We’re Looking for a Newsstand Writer, New Photographers, and New Contributors

By David Topping

Photo by Miles Storey.

Torontoist is always looking for new contributors, but right now—mid-summer, before what will surely be a busy fall—we’re especially eager to fill out our ranks. That means we’re looking for one new Newsstand writer to start the news day off right, several new photographers, and several more new writers and reporters. We’re looking, in other words, for you.

To apply for any of the positions below, please email me, David Topping, at [email protected].

Newsstand Writer

Newsstand is our morning digest of local news from other outlets across the city, published at around 8 a.m. every weekday and 10 a.m. every Saturday. We’re looking for an organized, careful, well-read, interesting, and interested writer with terrific curatorial skills, an early schedule, and (when appropriate) a decent sense of humour to take on writing Newsstand a few mornings a week.
What we want when you apply: Before this Saturday, July 17, at midnight, tell us about yourself and why you’re interested in writing Newsstand for us. If you’re one of our finalists, we’ll ask you to write a demo Newsstand for a day of your choosing. You may also want to review our Contribute page to find out more about what we can offer you and what we’re looking for in all our contributors. (You can ignore the “What We Want When You Apply” section of that page, however.)

Photographers

We care how we look, and so we care a lot about photography. Right now, Torontoist has a team of ten photographers, whose work you see regularly if you read us regularly. We could use a few more uniquely talented shooters, though—especially ones who are available during the weekday when news breaks.
What we want when you apply: Before Saturday, July 24, tell us about yourself—who you are, what you like to shoot—and what you’d bring to Torontoist. Include, too, some links to your work, whether it’s in a portfolio or a Flickr profile. (If you don’t have work collected online anywhere, you can attach a few medium-sized shots to your email.) You may also want to review our Contribute page to find out more about what we can offer you and what we’re looking for in our contributors (though you can ignore the “What We Want When You Apply” section of that page).

Writers

Torontoist is also looking to expand our roster of reporters and writers. If you’re interested in writing for us, no matter the subject, we’re interested in hearing from you. Right now, though, we’re especially looking for people who’d be particularly good writing on these subjects:

• News. We mean stories both big and small that are relevant to our audience, reported on and presented in a way that adds to—or beats—other outlets’ reporting, instead of regurgitating or depending on it. Someone who wants to write about news for Torontoist should be ready, willing, and able to (intermittently) drop everything and head out into the streets, tape recorder in hand.
• The Environment. The Earth—its health, how it’s changing, and our role in it all—is complicated. We want more thoughtful, informed writing on the environment: what the city’s residents and businesses are doing and can do to more positively affect it, to start.
• Social Justice. Poverty, labour, and human rights are issues that affect all of us, whether directly or indirectly. Toronto has no small share of activists, issues, and ideas, but there is a dearth of attention being paid to social justice, and we’d very much like to make sure our eyes are on the subject more.
• Sports. Do you know a lot about a lot of Toronto sports? And can you write about sports in a way that won’t be boring to people who might not otherwise care about sports?
• Food. Not restaurant reviews or recipes, but food news, and stories about food and the businesses that farm, prepare, or sell it—stories that’d be interesting to a wider audience than just “foodies.”

What we want when you apply: Everything that the “What We Want When You Apply” section of our Contribute page charts out here: a bit about yourself; a few specific post ideas, of what you’d write about if you were on staff today; some samples of what you do; and some constructive criticism about what you think could use improving on Torontoist. There is no deadline for applications, but the sooner the better.