Letter from the i editor: Discovering new talent

So many of you write to i every day seeking work experience here that it is depressing to report we are booked up with three a week at the Independent/i ’til September 2012-ish.

I have written before that we can soon tell the best ones from the rest — usually from the application letter.

But, both in personal belief and in keeping with i’s philosophy it would be a real shame not to be able to discover, nurture and promote new talent in the paper, so we will just do so by other means. Two such talent searches will be launching very soon.

If there’s an area of i in which we are a bit short, it is in the craft of illustration. We would really like to rectify this in the next couple of weeks, and will be launching our own Cartoonist Idol-type search for new talent to add to “As If” in social and political satire. So, if you fancy you could be the next Matt Pritchett, Peter Brookes or Posy Simmonds, not just once but on a daily basis, then watch this space, and sharpen your pencils.

For those of you who have been reading i at home these past few months before you head off for university, make sure to keep your eye on i once term begins, because we will also be launching a search for new student writing talent, to fill one of our FreeView slots on a rotating basis. We don’t have the budgets of our rivals but we do have precious space, and a willingness to give you a voice. And not just through letters.

While we are on the subject of “watch this space”, the end of next month marks i’s first anniversary — yes, it is unbelievable — and we’re debating whether or not to have a reader party, and if so, where so. It’s a can of worms, that one! ’Til then, I’m off to practise drawing.