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High School Sports Reporter
High School Sports Reporter, Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman’s high school sports reporters are versatile and high-impact journalists. Intense intention is paid to football, softball, baseball and basketball, with an emphasis on storytelling, breaking news and responding to reader interests. This position is expected to cover games, break news, file FOIA requests to uncover the innerworkings of the UIL and tell stories of the children and families that make Central Texas sports special.
What will you do?
- Help cover Texas high school sports with a focus on football, basketball and baseball, but helping in other sports areas as well
- Take lead on enterprise topics and public records reporting related to the UIL. We expect novel reporting (either document dives or features) to come monthly in this role.
- Monitor UIL violations and recruiting news for the dozens of schools in Central Texas. This means sourcing up coaches and families
- Mesh on-court success/happenings with off-court developments (NIL, eligibility rules, coaches' compensation, etc.)
- Provide rankings lists for the area’s top teams and players in different sports
- Write high-interest trending briefs when they arise
- Organize and send out weekly high school newsletter
- Shoot video and appear on camera for social media videos and other off-platform content; help build alternative story formats using our menu of options.
- Track metrics to ensure we’re putting our efforts into areas that engage with the audience.
What will it take to be successful?
- The successful candidate will have experience and be comfortable covering a range of sports from track to basketball to softball.
- Understanding of UIL transfer rules and familiarity with high school-college recruiting
- Ability to obtain public records and source-build within the high school sports community.
- Time management skills, multitasking skills and prioritization skills under tight deadlines and communication skills will be paramount.
- 3 or more years professional experience covering athletics
- Experience working with video and with SEO. Experience working with data sets and data visualization.
- Strong ability to use social media and KPIs to guide decision-making on story ideas and beat coverage
- Familiarity with a range of sports and the ability to pinch-hit on certain beats with little notice
The Austin American-Statesman (statesman.com), a division of Hearst Newspapers, is the largest newspaper in Central Texas and one of the largest in the state. Acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 2025, the Statesman was founded in 1871, is an annual winner for different statewide or national awards including the Pulitzer Prize and most recently was a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of the Uvalde school shooting.
About Hearst Newspapers
With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP represents a network of 25 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Dallas Morning News and Albany Times Union, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.
At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.
Be a part of something bigger – Your Headline Awaits.
Recognizing the diverse needs of our candidates, if you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or regarding the application process, please contact us by email at hnpemployment@hearst.com. Please do not use this email address to inquire about the status of applications. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests for a reasonable accommodation through this email address.
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