Our National Review Institute offers a juicy opportunity: a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellowship in Political Journalism. Recent college graduates have the opportunity to work at NR for a year. Applications are due on January 31.

William F. Buckley Jr. was a phenomenon: an enfant terrible who became an éminence grise, while retaining some of the enfant terrible. He founded National Review in 1955, when he was about 30. His father said to him, “Give it ten years.” Also: “Whatever you do, keep a majority of the shares.”

WFB was devoted to the American experiment, high culture, a free economy, Western civilization, the written word. He was profound and he was fun. He usually called himself a conservative, sometimes a libertarian. Always, he was independent-minded. He supported the Panama Canal treaties when virtually the whole of the Right was against. He was for drug legalization before it was cool. (Is it cool? Should it be?) He was associated with the Republican Party — and with Goldwater and Reagan in particular — but he was a steady critic of it. He wanted arguments, good arguments. He frequently warned us against “attitudinizing.” (To attitudinize, says Merriam-Webster, is “to assume an affected mental attitude : POSE.”) Yes, he wanted good arguments (recta ratio, right reason), and if you could put them in fine style — all the better.

Anyway, if you think National Review is for you, and you are for it, try our Buckley fellowship. NRI needs the following packet: a cover letter; a résumé; a recommendation from a professor or an employer; a transcript (unofficial is fine); and a writing sample. In your cover letter, talk about your education, your work, and any other activities you deem pertinent. And talk about your goals, especially as they relate to National Review. As NRI put its, “Why you and why NR?”

The address is [email protected]. And the deadline, again, is January 31. (WFB said, “A deadline is your best friend.”) All best wishes.