In 2018, PILOT—working with the NAB Leadership Foundation (NABLF)—inaugurated a program that provided grants to NAB member stations allowing them to offer paid technical internships at their facilities. In its first year, the PILOT Technology Internship Grant (TIG) program has funded a total of 11 internships at NAB member stations during the Spring and Summer 2019 academic terms.
Many of these students also traveled to Las Vegas in April to attend and work as interns for the NAB Technology department at the 2019 NAB Show.
As the first set of these internships nears completion, PILOT and NABLF are happy to announce that another round of internship grants has just opened for the Spring 2020 term. In addition to covering the stipends for part-time interns at stations, these grants will once again also include the opportunity for interns to travel and attend the 2020 NAB Show.
Like last year, stations apply for the grants by completing our online application form, in which they describe the work that the intern is likely to perform during the internship. The deadline for the current round (Spring 2020 term) of internship grant applications is August 16, 2019.
PILOT and NABLF review these applications and select those that present the best learning opportunities for interns, up to the limit of available funds. (Four internship grants are available for the Spring 2020 term.) NAB will announce the selected stations by September 6, 2019. These stations can then solicit for and select their interns, who will begin their internships in January 2020. If needed, PILOT/NABLF can provide assistance to grantees in identifying internship candidates, but interns are ultimately selected and hired by the stations independently. PILOT/NABLF’s grants provide funds to the stations to cover the interns’ salaries during the specified term.
The Spring 2020 grants will cover part-time internships consisting of eleven 20-hour work weeks, at $14 per hour ($3,080 total per grant). Near the end of the internship’s term, NAB will contact the interns to offer them travel, lodging and meals at the NAB Show, as well as $100/day for working as interns for the NAB Technology department during the Show, if their academic schedules permit. The interns’ work at the NAB Show will primarily involve assistance with the technical education programs presented by NAB Technology, but the interns will be provided with an orientation plus ample time (and guidance) to attend other education sessions of their choice and visit exhibitors on the Show floor, as well as meet with NAB staff, conference speakers and other attendees at the Show.
More information about the TIG program is available here. Send questions to spizzi@nab.org.
Skip Pizzi is Vice President, Technology Education and Outreach at NAB.