CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Ok, here's the deal: There's a job I saw in the Sunday paper to work FOR the paper as the General Assignment/Religion reporter, but I have no real training in regards to journalism. Well, the ad says (of course) that they want clips from me.

So here's what I'm wandering, what exactly do they want as clips and how would I go about preparing them. Most of my writing experience so far has been in the field of fan fiction and the like, so I don't really have any sample articles. Anyway, any advice or instruction on how exactly I would go about successfully applying for this position would be greatly appreciated.

I'm in definate need of a job and would like to try for this, so that is why I'm coming forward. Thanks in advance.

If they're talking about clips, they're probably talking about other published work. In that case, I'd call the office and tell them that you haven't been publish in any other jounalistic setting, but you'd like to send them an un-published sample article. Ask if that will be okay. If nothing else, you should get brownie point for going the extra mile and putting in some extra effort. A lot of people get hired because they seemed the most enthusiastic and hard working in the interview process.

As far as the article goes, write about some aspect of religion that relates to everyday life. Write the way you would write for the paper. Decide how you feel about the paper dictating what can and cannot be put in their religion portion of their paper. It maybe this is "politically correct" religion and not real religion. Just think about how you feel about that.

Osaka said it best. The clips they're asking for are actual clips (or webpages) of any newspaper articles you've written that have been included in a newspaper. If you've written for a school newspaper, those work, too. And if they do allow you to write a sample clip, remember that they're not looking for an evangelical piece of writing, more than likely, but instead an unbiased account of some religious event or occurrence -- which includes Christianity and all other religions.

As a journalism student myself, I would personally never be comfortable as a religion writer, simply because I would have far too much difficulty keeping my faith out of an article, whether it be my opinion or by my inclusion of only those quotes that support my faith. Make sense?

Good luck, though, and let us know how it goes!