Preps Reporter, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Want to cover high school sports? The Ledger-Enquirer, a McClatchy-owned daily newspaper in Columbus, Ga., is in a hurry to hire a prep sports reporter capable of covering 17 high schools and 13 different sports in two states and producing compelling coverage for mobile, online and print.

This position requires the ability to blog, break news online, produce video, write game stories, create enterprise pieces and special projects and monitor college recruiting, particularly for football.

Recent college graduates are welcome to apply. We’re looking for anyone who can think and write clearly, is naturally inquisitive and demonstrates energy, tenacity and enterprise. Online journalism skills and a high comfort level with social media are critical.

To apply, summarize your qualifications in a brief email to executive editor Dimon Kendrick-Holmes at dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com. Be sure to include links to five clips that demonstrate your talent and range, and attach a one-page resume.

 

They just filled this job like in December, to replace Chris White who's in Athens.

 

Not sure if you were commenting on the quick turnover or suggesting it may be a false ad, but an ad for this opening ran on jjobs a couple days ago.

 

This job has not been filled since I left it in September. They've been using a freelancer (Joseph C. Myers, who posts here under that name) and the SE has been writing much more than he used to, but the job was never actually filled.

I suppose I'll chime in on the job while I'm here.

I think pretty highly of the paper. It's got a great staff of people who know the community inside and out. The previous EE did some good things, like instituting a nice redesign, creating an investigatie reporting team and adding a bunch of well-read weekly features. And the new EE is a longtime editor who I liked working with, so I suspect things will only improve, at least as best as they can in this business' current condition.

The preps there are about as good as you're going to get. The area has 17 high schoools and there is tons of top-tier talent. I used to keep a running list of college signings, and there were something like 160 the last year I was there. Each February, we had about 20-30 kids sign football scholarships, and it seemed to be a daily battle to break recruiting news between us, Rivals/Scout/247 and the AJC. So despite Columbus being a bit of an island, there was some competition, if that's what drives you. There were perennial state baseball champs (Columbus High just won No. 3 in a row and No. 12 or 13 in 20 or so years), and a lot of the kids from the area and at the local D2 and JUCO would get drafted.

I can't speak to what the next person's role will be like, but I had an opportunity to cover a ton of stuff. I really enjoyed covering the heck out of the local semi-pro indoor football team. It was a fun project each year covering the college football games played at one of the stadiums down the road from the office - Tuskegee-Morehouse, Albany State-Fort Valley State, and now there's some SIAC bowl game there, I beleive. I also spent a lot of Saturdays in Auburn writing sidebars and whatnot to supplement the beat guy's work, and I routinely covered college games at the Georgia Dome, including the SEC Championship. I really wanted to cover the minor league ice hockey team more, but we had a freelancer who was on that beat for years before I got there, so it was only an occasional treat. I did at least get to handle the club ice hockey tournaments, though. And, of course, there's Columbus State University, which we covered regularly in men's and women's basketball and baseball. The school has very nice facilities and the coaches were always easy to work with. There's a JUCO across the river in Phenix City, and the same goes for those coaches.

Kevin Price, the SE, is a good guy. He can be demanding and always expects things a certain way, but that's because he does everything he can not to lower his standards from what they were 10 years ago. I've met several people who say Kevin had a big impact on their careers, and now that I'm an SE, I often do what I think he would do in a situation. He definitely made me a much tougher, more thorough reporter in my three years working for him.

Columbus is a decent town, and although it's a bit isolated, the county has something like 200,000 people and has all the amenities you'd want from a place that size. There's lots to do if you're into adult rec sports (ice hockey was my thing, but there was softball, dodge ball, flag football, ultimate frisbee, a huge soccer league with several skill levels, etc.). The downtown nightlife didn't do much for me, but I have specific tastes. I wasn't single most of the time I was there, but the dating scene wasn't great either, I was told. Outside of frequent red-light running, traffic wasn't too bad and the highways allowed you to get across town or from Columbus to Phenix City in less than 20 minutes just about any time of day. Worst-case scenario is you drive to Auburn (45 minutes) or Atlanta (90-120 minutes) to find something entertaining to do.

Crime is my only real complaint about the city. It seems to have trended down, but car break-ins and violent crimes were particularly frequent in a lot of areas.

If you still have questions after reading the book I just wrote, feel free to PM me.

 

+1 to everything Chris said. There's a lot of opportunities for whoever fills the job.

 

I'll echo Chris and say I'm a big Kevin fan. I'm not sure he'd accept me in the fan club, but too damn bad.