Summer Writing Intern

Vermont Independent Media, publishers of The Commons and the Deerfield Valley News, is looking for interns to join our team of freelance writers this summer for our highly respected local nonprofit news operation. Are you accurate, fair, thoughtful, and reliable? Are you good at working by phone, email, Zoom, and good old-fashioned face-to-face meetings with people? Do you want to understand what is going on  around southern Vermont and help communicate that understanding  with clarity, precision, and grace? Do you listen more than you talk, and when you do speak, do you ask tough but fair questions? Do you believe in good information as a cornerstone of a community that thrives? Do  you respect deadlines? Do you have patience, a good sense of humor, and a finely honed B.S. detector?  

We are looking for writers who can focus on the following areas with regular (more or less weekly) contributions to the newspaper:

• Brattleboro municipal reporter 

• Windham County municipal reporter(s) 

• Business reporter 

We are also looking for writers who are interested in following and collaborating on deep and complex issues, who can work on less frequent special assignments and cover complicated stories that approach difficult themes and conflict with respect, nuance, and open minds: 

• BIPOC and social issues reporter 

• Environmental issues reporter 

• Housing issues reporter 

This position is part of a cohort of 12 UVM summer interns working with organizations that support the Brattleboro community, including resettled New Americans, in partnership with the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp and the School for International Training (SIT). The UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships will fund a stipend of $4,000 per intern and provide housing at the SIT campus in Brattleboro, Vermont.

This is a 20-hour-per-week internship with the following components:

• 15 hours per week: Primary internship as described in this posting
• 2 hours per week: Collaborative work with other cohort members to support the New Vermonter Education Program’s ESL instruction and program activities, providing additional hands-on experience working with refugees in an educational setting
• 3 hours per week: Weekly intern cohort workshops focused on professional development, networking, and reflection, including a community orientation and a final sharing event in August 2026

Questions about the cohort? Contact UVM Internship Coordinator kristen.andrews@uvm.edu 

We love working with and mentoring writers of all ages. Experience is less important than attitude. Show us what you’ve got.  Written reply only, please; send to Randy Holhut, news editor, at randy@commonsnews.org.