South Bend Tribune sports designer

[Alsbt]

The South Bend Tribune is looking for a lead sports designer.

Responsibilities include designing Tribune sports deadline and advance special section pages. There are plenty of opportunities for creativity with weekly special sections through the fall that focus on Notre Dame football as well as other special sections on the NFL, auto racing, college basketball, baseball and high school sports.

The designer is involved to some degree in the story-selection process, so a working knowledge of most sports is a must.

The designer will work with several editors 3-4 evenings a week on the DewarView system, utilizing Quark. Must be able to work quickly under deadline pressure, pay attention to detail, work well with others and have a good eye for strong presentation.

Computer skills are a must. College degree in journalism preferred, although a degree in graphic design or related field is acceptable. Candidates with newspaper design experience preferred.

Please apply in person or send resume to:

Bill Bilinski, Sports Editor
South Bend Tribune
225 W. Colfax
South Bend, IN 46626
[email protected]

 

[wickedwritah]

The potential for skewering Weis would make this job a dream for the right Notre Dame hater.

 

[pittsmo]

Does anyone know anything about this job and what type of experience papers like for designers?


I know the post is old, but the job still shows as open on SouthBendTribune.com and I'm thinking of applying. Thanks.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

From what I've understood, this paper has had an unusually high amount of competition for it's jobs. It was sort of explained to me as the older guys don't leave and a lot of people want to be around Notre Dame.
I wonder how much that has changed in the last 4-5 years.

 

[Herky_Jerky]

I know some people who would be interested in this. Any updates on this job?

Anyone have any other comments -- positive or negative?

 

[Jbrown1450]

I can probably offer a little something.

As far as I know the job is still open. The last designer moved from sports to news and was a pretty young guy. So age/experience isn't necessarily the biggest determining factor.

The sports department is a good crew to be around. Bill, the SE, is one of the nicest and most understanding guys you'll ever meet. He's great to work for and with.

Notre Dame is obviously a big draw and I know some people see the SBT as the end game to their journalism career. With that in mind the everyday writing and other staff isn't overly young. But at the same time they're all a good group to work with.

I hesitate to say it's a bunch of people that "want to be around Notre Dame." Covering Notre Dame, especially football, is a good, albeit maddening, beat. But it's not like a good 'ol boys club where everyone just wants to hang around the Grotto.

With all the ND coverage, especially in football season, there's a lot of chance for creativity in design. That may be important to some.

That's all I got. Any other questions just let me know.

 

[PTOWN]

The last time I was in South Bend (USC game) I picked up the Sunday SBT. I thought the sports section was a bit odd. The entire section was basically on ND. I understand that you bust out the coverage big time on the Irish, but I was looking for some NLCS stuff and it was buried five pages inside, and a total of three graphs. And there really wasn't another story of substance in the paper. But maybe this is what their subscribers want, and I'm totally off base. Or maybe it was just some bad judgement on that particular day. When a team, even ND, is that bad does it really need 7-8 stories devoted to getting blown out and half the stadium emptying by the third quarter? If I was a lead designer I would have def. butted heads with the SE that day. But one edition does not a paper make.

 

[playthrough]

You might butt heads with the SE, but you're not going to win that one. Ever.

 

[Det. Jimmy McNulty]

how the hell are you a "lead designer" when you're only working 3-4 days per week?

 

[HackyMcHack]

how the hell are you a "lead designer" when you're only working 3-4 days per week?

You do the front 3-4 days a week, then do advance packages or inside pages the rest of the time. Trust me, it's a 40-hour a week deal, especially during football season. Three sports fronts, a weekly college football preview section and Friday night high school madness duty adds up real quick.

 

[Det. Jimmy McNulty]

Trust me, it's a 40-hour a week deal, especially during football season.

Is it paid like a 40-hour a week deal? I've heard the SB Tribune likes to pay part-time wages for full-time work.

 

[HackyMcHack]

Trust me, it's a 40-hour a week deal, especially during football season.

Is it paid like a 40-hour a week deal? I've heard the SB Tribune likes to pay part-time wages for full-time work.

I'm speaking generically here. Don't know what the situation is in Irish-town.

 

[STLIrish]

Trust me, it's a 40-hour a week deal, especially during football season.

Is it paid like a 40-hour a week deal? I've heard the SB Tribune likes to pay part-time wages for full-time work.

They do, sometimes. But this one is listed under the "full-time" heading on their jobs website, and the ad doesn't mention no 32-hour gig.
http://www.sbtinfo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?CATEGORY=OTHER2

And Jimmy, I hear you're drinking again.

 

[redmnm2]

The last time I was in South Bend (USC game) I picked up the Sunday SBT. I thought the sports section was a bit odd. The entire section was basically on ND. I understand that you bust out the coverage big time on the Irish, but I was looking for some NLCS stuff and it was buried five pages inside, and a total of three graphs. And there really wasn't another story of substance in the paper. But maybe this is what their subscribers want, and I'm totally off base. Or maybe it was just some bad judgement on that particular day. When a team, even ND, is that bad does it really need 7-8 stories devoted to getting blown out and half the stadium emptying by the third quarter? If I was a lead designer I would have def. butted heads with the SE that day. But one edition does not a paper make.

You would have lost this argument. ND football in the Sunday edition is and always will be their bread and butter. This is what brings people to town on Saturday and regardless of how crappy the season, it's what people want to read about. South Bend isn't a baseball town. While I can't say people don't care about the NLCS, the sports editor was right in putting this inside the section. The fact is, the SB-Trib is a community newspaper and ND is the biggest segment of its sports community. Unless they had a pro baseball team in SB, there's no way the NLCS should have been anywhere but inside the section. That's just the reality of how it should be. You don't bump your local sports coverage inside to make space on your cover for a game between two teams few people in your readership area are likely to care about. An intelligent lead designer wouldn't "butt heads" with their SE on this, because they would know it's the right call to make.

 

[PTOWN]

Seems reasonable to design the paper that way. I guess I would be in the minority in regards to wanting to read about the NLCS. But a few paragraphs just didn't make sense to me. Not having it out front does not seem problematic.

 

[Det. Jimmy McNulty]

The potential for skewering Weis would make this job a dream for the right Notre Dame hater.

it's late, but "Bush tabs Weis for intellectual disabilities"

you don't know how bad i REALLY wanted to run that headline. of course, i'd be unemployed right now if i did.

 

[CarlSpackler]

I believe this position has been filled up like Charlie Weis' waistline.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I really hope they didn't just get some tub of lard for this gig, though.

 

[Chi City 81]

I really hope they didn't just get some tub of lard for this gig, though.

Please elaborate.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I really hope they didn't just get some tub of lard for this gig, though.

Please elaborate.

Look at Carl's post.