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Internship Subsidy Program

To assist member magazines with nurturing the next generation of professionals

The Magazine Association of BC has just been approved for subsidies for internships running between April 2023 and February 2024.

Member magazines who are interested in hosting an intern should apply soon, even if the internship doesn’t start until later in the year, as we will be approving applications on a rolling basis until the funding is spent.

Here are a few details about our subsidy:

  • The maximum subsidy is $5,750 or 80%, whichever is less.
  • Internships must consist of significant meaningful work, i.e. interns must have regular opportunities to apply their education and skills to gain valuable work experience.
  • Interns must either be current students or have graduated less than 3 years ago from an accredited post-secondary institution.
  • The internship must be at least 20 hours/week and 16-26 weeks, not including gap weeks (weeks in which the intern works less than half of their usual hours, such as during the winter holidays)
    • Very small magazines can apply for a subsidy for a 10-19 hours per week internship. Please contact the executive director before applying to find out if your magazine is eligible.
  • We recommend the hourly wage be at least $18/hour, and if possible, at least $20/hour. Average over the past two years has been $19.15.
  • We are offering two stipends of up to $2,125 each to assist interns if they need to move to a remote location to take up an internship with a member magazine. This is meant to assist member magazines outside major metropolitan areas with recruiting if the local talent pool is too small.
  • Mentors must meet with interns a minimum of a half-hour a week or an hour every other week to help the intern in their career, such as giving feedback on their resume or portfolio, talking about the magazine industry, doing a role-play interview, etc.
  • Job training, skills development, feedback on work done and other supervisory duties do not count as mentoring.
  • The internship coordinator will book a brief weekly Zoom check-in and discussion with each intern to provide additional assistance and advice.

The above is just a summary of the main points, so we recommend that MagsBC members who are interested in hosting an intern read our guide first, even if they have hosted before, as the program has changed over time. 

We also recommend reading AMPA‘s excellent Internship Success Guide, which they produced for their Indigenous Internship Program, but which has a lot of valuable information for any host or intern, especially for those magazines without a human resources department or experience in hiring interns.

To apply, please send an email to Sylvia Skene, Executive Director/Internship Coordinator, MagsBC at exec@magsbc.com with the following:

  1. A 1-2 paragraph statement of interest
  2. Section 1 of the internship subsidy program details form (MS Word)
  3. An internship job posting with all details as listed on page 8 of our guide.

All of the above must be received and complete before a submission will be considered.

Approval as always is contingent on funding.

Please direct any questions to Sylvia Skene at exec@magsbc.com or at 604-688-1175.


Funded by the Government of Canada.

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