The Olympian is looking for five people to join the Board of Contributors. The writing term begins in January and lasts one year.
The goal behind this stable of columnists is to bring varied, local voices to this page – people who are not shy about sharing their opinions about local issues and offering solutions to problems that face the state and community.
We made some changes to the program two years ago. We started the Board of Contributors in January 2004 with a dozen community columnists. They tackled issues ranging from medical malpractice reform to timber harvest practices. The columnists brought expertise in a number of arenas: higher education, health care, nonprofits, etc.
Two years ago, in an effort to give more South Sound residents an opportunity to sound off, we changed the rules for the Board of Contributors. Rather than having 10 columnists write once every 10 weeks for two years, we reduced the number of writers to five or six and asked them to make a one-year commitment.
The increased frequency helped readers become more familiar with the columnists and created a stronger bond between readers and columnists.
What are we looking for?
It’s one thing to have an opinion. It’s another to be able to communicate that opinion succinctly and with clarity.
The Olympian is looking for individuals from the community who represent key interests in South Sound areas such as education, health care, business, spiritual life, the environment, nonprofit organizations, state and local government. We’d be happy to receive applications from a neighborhood activist, a student, a homemaker – people from all walks of life who add to the richness and diversity of the South Sound community.
The five or six contributors will take turns writing a column that appears on Wednesday’s opinion page. The online version reaches far beyond South Sound. Columnists marvel at the comments they receive from people living on the East Coast and, at times, in foreign countries. A column by a previous panelist was picked up on several blogs and generated more than 30,000 page views.
We are looking for conservative voices and liberal voices and those in the middle, too. The Board of Contributors should be as diverse as the South Sound community this newspaper serves. There are plenty of columnists writing on national issues, so we want the Board of Contributors to focus on issues of importance to this community and region.
Today, we are inviting self-nominations for the Board of Contributors.
There is no form to fill out. Simply provide us with a self-nomination letter.
Provide us with information about your ethnic and educational background, along with information on similar writing assignments you might have tackled. Tell us why you want to be a columnist, your area of expertise and what you would bring to the position in terms of qualifications, experience and political philosophy.
Provide us with a couple of your best writing samples.
You might find it’s not as easy as it sounds. Writing a column backed by solid research and written with flair is challenging work. Write two, 600-word sample columns on a current topic – preferably local – and include those columns with your self-nomination letter.
Send your self-nomination letter and writing samples to: Board of Contributors, The Olympian, 111 Bethel St. N.E., Olympia, WA 98506. Our fax number is 360-357-0202, and the email address is news@theolympian.com.
The deadline for columnist applications is 5 p.m. Friday.
We look forward to hearing from you.
