Jobs and Opps at the BBC, Tom's Guide, The FT, The Wildlife Trust, Global Witness, ITV, and Many, Many More 🧤

Warm up with our big list of opportunities (perfect with a cuppa) ☕️

Sometimes, I look at a blank page in front of me and think “Gosh, am I a writer?” Am I a writer who’s ever written anything at all, never mind anything profound? The pen (or, sadly, keyboard) is my weapon of choice, but instead of soothing my consciousness, it can so often fill me with trepidation: especially when on a deadline — and even more so when uninspired.  And, boy, am I uninspired.

Admitting to yourself that your creative well is dry is a tough pill to swallow — even more so when it’s intrinsically connected to both your income and your sense of self. It’s hard not to compare yourself to others when they are creating, excelling, and moving on around you. Social media FOMO (yes, even professionally) is very real.

Whether it’s off the back of burnout, a desire to try new things, or a need to earn, focusing on our wellbeing is often the first step to getting your creative cogs going again. Sometimes, you just need to unpop the cork in anyway possible and do something completely out of your comfort zone — journal, write a review, or (to take an idea from our awards list) churn out a 500-word ghost story set at Christmas. I recently found a lot of inspiration working closing with our 2023 fellows; the breadth and zeal of their ideas made me want to dream bigger for my own.

But above all — remember that we’re all in it together. When I was younger, I thought the culture writers I aspired to be like has some diligence, resilience… A hidden formula or luck that was eluding me. Yet while work ethic is never to be diminished, a chat with one of them revealed to me that were all likely facing the same struggles as me and supporting their income with other, less exciting kinds of work. In a landscape that feels irrefutably tenuous, make sure to take stock of your own needs. Let’s be kind to ourselves and each other. 

🚨[EVENT] Breaking Into Film Journalism With Al Horner

It’s your last chance to get tickets for our event on pivoting into film journalism. We’ll be giving tonnes of practical tips to get started and will also be exploring how to put together thoughful criticsm and engaging profiles. As always, there will be plenty of time to put your questions to Al Horner and all viewers get a copy of the recording.

• 🚨 Last chance to apply to the editorial assistant role with the FT Weekend. It’s a three month role, paying London Living Wage, where you’ll work directly with journalists across the magazine.

• Glasgow Short Film Festival has an opening for a digital marketing assistant. It pays £21,255pa and you’ll create a huge range of content.

• A “London-based train operating company” is hiring a communications journalist. It looks more on the PR side of things but pays a very decent £33,000pa and they describe it as a “massive opportunity to improve your skillset”.

• There’s still time to apply for the job as journalism coordinator with BBC Learning English, part of the wider World Service divisin. It’s an entry-level role that pays from £23,103pa.

• The BBC Apprenticeships are now live! This is different to scheme we listed a little while ago — this Level 5, which anyone can apply from straight out of A Levels. There are roles available in Glasgow, Northampton, Norwich, Salford (Sport), Tunbridge Wells, Guernsey, Newcastle, Chelmsford, Jersey, and Dunstable. They pay £20,475pa (plus an extra £4,918 in the Channel Islands).

• Talking of the previous BBC scheme — which is more aimed at graduates — it seems the Welsh scheme has been listed later than the others. You’ll need to be able to speak Welsh, it’s based in Cardiff, and pays £25,000pa.

• Helping Hands is looking for a content writer to focus on SEO pieces focused around the care industry. It pays £20–25,000pa. They want someone who can write engaging and genuinely useful pieces around the sector.

• 🏡 🕑 This is a communications intern role for a not-for-profit organisation. Our very entry-level sleuthing suggests it’s Plan For Peace. It pays the London Living Wage, no matter where you’re actually based.

• Pushkin Press is on the lookout for an editorial assistant to gain a grounding in publishing, working across fiction, non-fiction, and children’s titles. It pays a minimum salary of £24,500pa.

• ITV is hiring runners to work on Coronation Street. Basically, you’ll be helping out with a bit of everything on the production side. It pays £27,750pa.

• This is a marketing apprenticeship with Pan Macmillian, who will pay you £24,000pa. It’s a 15-month scheme teaching you the basics of SEO, emails, social media, and video content creation.

• And, finally, BluetownOnline has an advert live for a content executive. You’ll be paid £21,000pa to write a huge range of content for small businesses. It could be anything from blogs and web content to ebooks and infographics.

• Sheffield Documentary Fest is looking for a communications producer who’ll create regular news content, manage their social media accounts, and keep the website up to date. It pays £26,5000pa.

• 🚨 Last chance to apply for the communications officier role with Green Alliance. It pays £34,663–38,017pa and you’ll create content that inspires senior decision makers to raise their environmental ambitions.

• 🚨 Tomorrow is the closing date for the gig with Social Streets media subscriptions and partners manager. It pays £26,000pa FTE — full details here.

• ITV is looking for a production journalist in Jersey, where you’ll be developing contacts in the community, bringing new story ideas, and producing the show. It pays £26,329–36,359pa.

• They’re also looking for a lead production specialist to join ITV Meridian. It’s a managerial role across their live output, meaning you’ll manage and inspire people to put together the best programme possible. It pays £36–50,000pa.

• 🚨 This week is also your deadline to apply for the multimedia news reporters listing from All Island Media. You’ll work on a whole range of original content from in-depth investigations to podcasts. It pays £25–45,000pa. It’s in Jersey!

• 🕑 The Wildlife Trust has a very cute badger in its logo. They’re also hiring a digital content officer to look after their Nextdoor Nature project, which will help inspire communities to look after their local wildlife. It pays £26,500pa FTE.

• Tom’s Guide is looking for a fitness editor for a maternity cover contract. You’ll look after news, features, and reviews and will be paid £29–35,000pa.

• This is a digital sports journalist role with the BBC based in Southampton, where you’ll cover everything from the South of England. It’s Band C, which means it pays £25,670–50,313pa. Yeah, it’s a wild range.

• Mainly including this for home county love — BBC Devon needs a political reporter to cover the region. It’s Band D, so pays £36,195–64,688pa and I’d be really grateful if you could track down when this pool will get built.

• 🏡 One more — The Donkey Sanctuary need a copywriter to write about donkeys! They’ll pay you £31,000pa and it’s also based in my glorious home county. Can’t wrap this up without using the emoji 🫏 .

• 🏡 Newsquest has an opening for a subscriptions manager for their Great British Life country magazines. You’ll be working to grow subscribers, retain them, and market the magazines more broadly. It pays £40–45,000pa.

• 🚨 Last chance to apply to the fact-checking programme lead with the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (aka as ECIU). It pays £45,000–55,000pa and you’ll commission briefs on emerging trends, monitor coverage, and more.

• Global Witness has another job advert live this week. They’re looking for a senior data investigations advisor to support the publication of regular stories about the role of financial institutions in deforestation. It pays $53,856pa.

• Elections are coming and you could be in the chaos! The electoral commission is hiring a communications officer as part of their media relations team and it’s paying £44,755pa.

• 🏡 Want to use your journalism skills for something a little different? This is a corporate investigations researcher / senior researcher gig which is specifically looking for experienced journlalists. You’ll be paid up to £65,000pa.

• The Guy’s and St. Thomas Foundation (they run that hospital) is looking for a digital platforms and content manager to oversee their websites. It pays £50,000pa.

• Liam O’Dowd has a call for pitches open from leafie, a publication that covers “cannabis, psychedelics and culture for the curious". They’ve got a couple of specific feature requests and some more open call-outs.

• The Sun is hiring a casual digital and showbiz reporter, who’ll work for them on a shift basis in their newsroom. You’ll be working on breaking news, as well as watching live TV and writing up the strongest news lines.

• 🚨 This one closes today, so be fast! InBloom is looking for a senior journalist/data journalist to work on their newsletter. It pays £35–65ph. 

• The Telegraph is needs a production journalist to work on Fridays and Sundays. 

• If you’re passionate about cars, HotCars is looking for a freelance writer. 

• A really nice one here for any football writers, particularly those starting out — Tom Curren from SCOUTED, is always looking for imaginative long-form writing. If you want to explore any original concepts and ideas that say something new about football analysis and/or young players, get in touch.

• Ziya Jones from Xtra Magazine is looking to connect with more trans writers working on the health beat. 

• The Feminist Food Journal has put a callout for pitches for its next issue on all things MEAT 🥩. But fear not veggies and vegans, you in no way have to be a meat eater to submit. 

• Anna Clark has joined Fabulous Magazine as a writer, and is open to pitches on celebrity interviews, as well as the latest culture launches — including podcasts, TV, film, events and albums.

• Allegra Frank at The Daily Beast is looking for entertainment pitches for the site’s Obsessed column. 

• 🏡 Property Saviour is looking for a couple of freelance journalists with experience fo working for property sections or titles. It says the pay is equivalent to £28,255–32,278pa. More details over this way.

• HuffPost’s Noah Michelson is always open to pitches, especially from folks with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

• Narrative Initiative has opened its call for pitches for its first edition of Field Notes. It will pay US$1 per word.

• Zócalo Public Square, a knowledge enterprise publishing ideas journalism and putting on events, is open to pitches generally, but is also particularly keen to hear from any historians of Venezuela or Argentina out there.

• 🆓 🎪 The wonderful people of the LGBTQ+ Journalism Network are running their first in-person event in conjunction with City Journalism. There will be a panel discussion about navigating the industry as an LGBTQ+ person with Sophie Perry, Alim Kheraj, and Nemo Martin. Plus, plenty of chances to network!

• 🚨 🎪 It’s your last chance to get tickets for our event with Al Horner about pivoting into film journalism. We’ll look at everything from thoughtful criticism to engaging feature profiles.

• 🚨 🎪 Join our very own Hannah Bradfield this week for advice on how to secure your first paid byline as a freelancer. Expect tonnes of practical tips and advice.

• Matriarch Productions has launched the Grass Routes Prize, to help working-class writers get into the TV industry. Send them a script between 25 and 60 pages long and you could snag £5,000 and an agent.

• The Whickers Podcast Pitch is now open, offering up to £5,000 in funding for a factual audio production. This could be a one-off project or a series and the runner-up will also be awarded £2,000.

• 🚨 🎪 🆓 The first of our two redundancy support events is this week. Join Jack Dearlove and Jem Collins for a practical session on navigating the job hunt after redundnacy. Next month we'll also be joined by a specialist support coach.

• The Trace Prize for Investigative Reporting is now back open. It recognises reporting that covers business-related bribery and financial crime. Up to two winners will recieve a cash prize of US$10,000.

• 🚨 The Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism offers short-term fellowships to train journalists to cover the most pressing global issues of our time. This year the theme is immigration and migration. They’ll cover accommodation, hotels, most meals, and travel from outside the USA.

• Applications are back open for the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award. It offers up to US$12,500 to an early-career journalist whose work reveals truths about the human condition. You can be based anywhere.

• The Kim Wall Memorial Fund has reopened with a December deadline. They’re looking for women and non-binary journalists that embody Kim’s reporting — subcultures and interesting people that are overlooked. You’ll recieve US$5,000.

• The Royal Institute of Philosophy has launched a new competition, challenging writers to engage with one of three 'big questions’. Full details here.

• Two mentoring opportunities here through Creative Mentor Network for those aged 18–25. This one is for people interested in marketing and this one is for people interested in the wider creative industries.

• And, finally, travel writers who have published at least one book can apply for a grant of US$10,000 to write long-for content on Latin America or Spain.

• The latest installment of our ‘Day in the Life’ series is here. This week we chat to broadcaster Kristina Völk about why it’s just so hard to get off Twitter/X.

We Need To Sell 300 Magazines This Year To Fund Our Work

Currently, we’ve sold 21. If you can, please consider grabbing a copy — every penny goes towards our work to support journalists. That includes our fellowship, which gives paid work and training to people just starting out and our one-off redundancy support sessions. Plus, you’ll also get a beautiful, wire-bound, 100-page magazine. It’s packed with features, self-development exercises, and fun.