We are looking for individuals passionate about gymnastics to join our team and eager to help us cover the sport like its mainstream counterparts. All staff members work for College Gym News on a volunteer basis, and all funds earned are used to pay for travel to cover meets in person and other site costs.
If you think you’d be a good fit for our team—or even if you’re hesitant but want to try!—don’t be afraid to apply. Simply click the link to apply below the respective position, fill out the short survey, and we’ll be in touch.
Click a role below to jump to the position.
- WAG Beat Editor
- Data Editor
- Photographer
- Freelance Feature Writer
- Web Developer
- Administrative Assistant
- Copy Editor
- Intern
WAG Beat Editor
Role description: A beat editor is responsible for all aspects of covering one conference or topic of women’s college gymnastics (the Big Ten, recruiting, etc.), from following injury and training updates to writing features and acting as the subject matter expert for that beat. Editors are expected to have in-depth knowledge of all of the teams and gymnasts on their beat; note that we do not require editors to come in with this knowledge but rather to acquire it once they are assigned a conference after joining the team.
Editors are also encouraged to work on other projects or weekly items for CGN. Examples include helping with recruit ratings, supporting editors who run the injury and records pages, supporting Fantasy Central or the weekly power rankings, contributing to leo rankings, helping with offseason projects like the salary database, etc.
Estimated time commitment: Five to 10 hours per week during the offseason and 8 to 15 hours per week during the season, including nights/weekends to live blog at least once per week.
Typical weekly tasks during season and offseason: During the offseason, editors are responsible for monitoring team and gymnast social media for their beat, and keeping apprised of injuries, training updates, and roster changes. The offseason is also a time for longer term projects, work on databases and site updates, and fun features.
Once the season begins, we have a strict weekly cadence and deadlines are imperative. Editors are responsible for meet previews for the Mount, signing up for and preparing live blogs, meet recaps for the Dismount, and monitoring injuries and records on their beat. We require each editor to live blog at least once per weekend. Editors are encouraged—but aren’t required—to do so in person if they live near a team.
We also encourage editors to be active on social media, especially Twitter. However, we do have a mild social media policy that limits any outwardly biased or abrasive posts.
Requirements/characteristics: Knowledge of all women’s skills for live blogging, ability to stick to a deadline, passion not just for gymnastics but elevating the sport to the level of its mainstream counterparts.
Other special skills are a plus.
Perks: In-person meet coverage, the potential to cover the sport’s biggest postseason meets, a community of passionate individuals working together to push the sport forward, the chance to have your work featured on NCAA.com, access to coaches and gymnasts for interviews and other coverage.
Data Editor
Role description: Data editors are primarily responsible for contributing to our Data Deep Dive series, which brings data analysis to college gymnastics. Secondary responsibilities include data collection (either manual or automated), database/spreadsheet creation and maintenance, tool creation, data visualization, and assisting other editors with data for their features. Data editors should be able to pitch their own ideas for articles and projects stemming from a natural curiosity about the sport and the data it produces. If you love to show off your spreadsheets or you have ideas about analytical projects involving gymnastics data, you may be a great fit for this role! Coding skills are a plus but not a strict requirement.
Estimated time commitment: We typically ask for at least five hours per week from our data editors, but it will vary depending on the Data Deep Dive schedule and any additional tasks you take on. For example, if you help out with our recruiting database, more time might be required ahead of our recruit ratings release in June, as well as around National Signing Day in November.
Photographer
Role description: Photographers have the opportunity to cover local meets during the regular season and even have the chance to travel to postseason meets for coverage. Their images will be used across CGN platforms to accompany articles, increase engagement on social media, and even sometimes be used by teams who aren’t able to have a team photographer in attendance. There is also the opportunity to produce visual content for the site, such as photo essays.
Experience shooting fast-action sports, in particular gymnastics, is a plus.
Estimated time commitment: The time spent shooting for CGN depends heavily on the teams local to the photographer’s home base, as well as their availability to attend meets. Outside of shooting, a few hours of post-meet editing and other housekeeping tasks is required.
Freelance Feature Writer
Role description: Feature writers contribute to CGN’s regular features with the potential to write long form pieces. While feature writers are expected to have a high level of gymnastics knowledge and strong familiarity with NCAA teams, they are not responsible for any of the week-to-week work we expect of a regular editor.
Feature writers are sometimes assigned stories but are also strongly encouraged to pitch their own ideas as well. There is also the potential for NCAA.com to pick up features from CGN.
Experience writing journalism-style features and a working knowledge of AP Style are a plus.
Estimated time commitment: Depends on the number of stories pursued; we expect freelancers to contribute at least four stories per season, as well as occasional pieces in the offseason.
Typical weekly tasks during season and offseason: Feature writers should be responsive to assignments and reach out to teams to schedule interviews in a timely fashion. They are also encouraged to pitch stories and will be held to deadlines.
Web Developer
Role description: Our primary webmaster is busy with grad school, so we are looking for additional volunteers to help out with website updates as needed. This mainly includes WordPress development (PHP), front-end development (JavaScript and associated libraries), and server maintenance. Experience working with InMotion Hosting or custom-built databases is a plus.
Estimated time commitment: Typically only 1-2 hours per week, but there may be times when urgent issues arise at unexpected times. If working on a special project such as a new database or building a custom front-end for a data project, more time may be required.
Administrative Assistant
Role description: The administrative assistant will be in charge of keeping the CGN editors on track with deadlines, helping transfer articles to WordPress to prepare for publishing, helping maintain various pages and databases associated with the site, and other tasks as needed.
The individual in this role should have a keen eye for details, a willingness and ability to complete time-sensitive tasks in a timely manner and a passion for college gymnastics.
Estimated time commitment: While the total time commitment is not large for the administrative assistant—fewer than 8 hours per week during the season and even fewer during the offseason—being around to help during meet days and some nights will be required, as we sometimes face tight turnarounds and strict deadlines, especially during the season.
Copy Editor
Role description: Copy editors are in charge of sharing the task of editing every piece of content that goes live on CGN’s site, including edits to the copy itself as well as the formatting. They should not only have expert-level knowledge of English grammar but of AP Style, guidelines for news writing created by the Associated Press.
Copy editors are also welcome to help out with other aspects of the site should they desire, from writing features to helping pull information for data projects or helping keep our databases up to date.
Estimated time commitment: Copy editing duties will be split between multiple individuals. During the season, a typical week for CGN sees around 20 different articles published, including meet recaps and previews in the Mount and Dismounts.The season also often sees quicker turnarounds between draft deadlines and publishing, so while tight turnaround is a reality, you shouldn’t expect to spend more than 8 hours per week strictly editing or formatting articles in WordPress during the season.
Intern
Role description: CGN interns will get experience helping with all aspects of CGN, from beat coverage to database management and more. Each intern is assigned to assist a senior editor with their beat coverage, from following injury and training updates to writing features and acting as the subject matter expert for that beat.
Interns will also be encouraged to work on other projects or weekly items for CGN. Examples include helping with recruit ratings, supporting editors who run the injury and records pages, supporting Fantasy Central or the weekly power rankings, contributing to leo rankings, helping with offseason projects like the salary database, etc.
Plus, interns that perform well during the season have the chance to be offered a role as an editor with CGN upon completion of their one-year internship.
Estimated time commitment: Five to 8 hours per week during the offseason and 8 to 12 hours per week during the season, including nights/weekends to live blog at least once per week.
Typical weekly tasks during season and offseason: During the offseason, interns will assist their senior editor in monitoring team and gymnast social media for their beat, and keeping apprised of injuries, training updates, and roster changes. The offseason is also a time for longer term projects, work on databases and site updates, and fun features.
Once the season begins, we have a strict weekly cadence and deadlines are imperative. Interns will assist their senior editor in writing meet previews for the Mount, signing up for and preparing live blogs, completing meet recaps for the Dismount, and monitoring injuries and records on their beat. We require each intern to live blog at least once per weekend, and they are encouraged—but aren’t required—to do so in person if they live near a team.
We also encourage staff to be active on social media, especially Twitter. However, we do have a mild social media policy that limits any outwardly biased or abrasive posts.
Requirements/characteristics: Knowledge of all women’s skills for live blogging, ability to stick to a deadline, passion not just for gymnastics but elevating the sport to the level of its mainstream counterparts.
Other special skills are a plus.
Perks: In-person meet coverage, the potential to cover the sport’s biggest postseason meets, a community of passionate individuals working together to push the sport forward, the chance to have your work featured on NCAA.com, access to coaches and gymnasts for interviews and other coverage.
Please note that this internship is not available for high school students. Only college-age individuals or older should apply. We can also offer academic credit if needed.