Nurturing Talent

Creating opportunities for people and giving a voice to marginalised communities is a key part of what we do at Bristol24/7. There are three ways that you can get involved with our us and gain some experience: work experience, internships and community reporting. Read on to find out more!

Work experience 

Please note our work experience programme runs over three-month periods. October to December is currently fully booked, and the programme will reopen in the new year for the January to March period.

Bristol24/7 offer a limited number of editorial work experience opportunities throughout the year, open to anyone looking to start a career in journalism or get experience in the world of work.

Our award-winning voluntary placements are unpaid and run for one week, from Monday to Friday, with working hours between 9am to 5pm.

You will be able to work on stories that interest you and tell them in the form of writing, photographs, podcast recording or video. We’re open to new ideas on how to tell important stories about Bristol and work with new mediums.

Previously, those who have completed work experience at Bristol24/7 have secured full-time jobs at the company and gone on to further their careers with local and national publications, including the Guardian and the BBC.

How to apply

Anyone who lives in Bristol and is aged 16 or over at the time of their placement can apply for a Bristol24/7 work experience placement. We’re particularly keen to hear from people from a background that is not well represented in the media industry. This includes if you are:

•      a person who experiences racism and/or

•      a disabled person and/or

•      a person who identifies as having a working class background and/or

•      a person who was eligible for free school meals as a child

We’re also keen to hear from people who are considering a career change at a later point in their life.

For people under the age of 18, work experience must be arranged through a school work experience programme. Young people can leave our Future Leap office if permission from a parent or guardian is given.

We want to offer you the best level of support possible on your placement, so please let us know if you have any additional needs when you get in touch.

Any reasonable expenses incurred while working on Bristol24/7 stories will be reimbursed. This does not include travel to and from our office, but there is a small fund available for those who cannot afford this.

To apply for our work experience programme, we’d like to hear your responses to the following questions:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself! What are you currently up to, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
2. Why do you want to do a work experience placement with Bristol24/7?
3. What would you hope to learn from a work experience placement with us?
4. How is local news and media important to you and/or your community?

We’re not looking for lengthy responses – a sentence for each is enough! You can send these to us in the form of writing, video or voice note to experience@bristol247.com with the subject ‘Work Experience’. Alternatively you can send us your phone number and we will call you to arrange a chat over the phone if that works better for you. 

If you have heard about our programme through our friends at Babbasa, please cc them in your email!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Our work experience is supported by our key partners and collaborators: Babbasa, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol, Unite Students, Weston College and Resonance.

Internships

Every summer we recruit two interns to work with us and help produce our student guide. Currently, both of these internships are organised for students of the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol. However, in the near future we are planning to offer a paid internship for a non-university candidate. More details coming soon!

Community reporters

We’re always on the hunt for new journalists to help report news from their communities and ensure people across the city are represented in local media.

These content creators will help us tell the story of their own areas of Bristol however they want: through writing (news, features, creative writing, poetry or opinion), photography, video, animation, social media, podcasts and more.

We are ideally looking for people who live in the areas of Bristol that are often under-represented in mainstream media coverage, or communities that are under-represented.

We want to tell more stories about areas such as Avonmouth, Broomhill, Hartcliffe, Lawrence Hill,  Lawrence Weston, Shirehampton and Speedwell; made by people who live and are part of communities about which they produce content.

But the most important shared element to the work that our new community reporters will produce is exceptional storytelling.

Bristol24/7 employs community reporters on a freelance basis. The role is part-time and initially for two months, with plans to expand this period dependent on funding. The rate is £71.50 per day.

We are seeking journalists who are able to commit to between two and six days a month.

Successful candidates must be:

• Passionate about Bristol.
• Eager to tell stories from their own community.
• Willing to learn new skills.
• Legally able to work in the UK.
• Interested in journalism.

Candidates should also ideally:

• Be able to show examples of published work, whether on a website, blog, publication, YouTube or other platform.
• Be aware of the work that Bristol24/7 already does.

What we offer:

• Full support from our Community Reporter Editor and wider editorial team.
• A full induction and ongoing skill development.
• On-the-job training.
• Opportunity to build up a portfolio of published work.
• Access to office space.
• Invites to our business members meetings and networking events.

There is no closing date for applications, and we welcome enquiries year round.

If this sounds like you, please email jobs@bristol247.com with a 50-word bio of yourself and brief ideas of three pieces of content that you would like to create for us. If you would like to find out more about the role and whether it would be suitable for you, please email hello@bristol247.com to arrange an informal chat.