Vinny Vella, at 22, takes home piece of Denver Pulitzer

Well, most professional journalists would agree that working for a college newspaper is paramount; some would argue that they learned more in the newsroom than the classroom. I’ll withhold judgment on that last point. But in all seriousness, ours is a field that requires practical experience, not just theory. I don’t know of any newspaper in the world that would hire a 4.0 student who hadn’t written a single story in his or her life. Clips are a proof of concept to an employer, even someone that’s hiring an intern, that you know what you’re doing. The easiest way to get them is through the campus newspaper.

Some people say going to college is much more than just going to class. Would you agree or disagree with that? Why?

I absolutely agree. If you need proof, look at the other students around you. Focus on the ones who you only see in class, who don’t contribute to campus life in any extracurriculars or make attempts to be social. Do you know anything of significance about them? Would you hire someone like that, whose resume is blank except for a list of classes taken?

College presents a unique opportunity to surround yourself and interact with like-minded individuals. To generate ideas and develop who you are. If you don’t do that, if you only view college as an extension of high school or as an obligation, you’ll have wasted that opportunity.

You got a communication degree. What’s the value of the degree?

It’s a liberal-arts degree; it shows I’m “well-rounded.” But, cynicism aside, I know people who went to Columbia and struggled to find a job in a major market. Moral here is that where you go to college doesn’t matter as much as what you do while you’re there. It’s extremely generous to say my alma mater has a journalism program. But what it did have was an excellent internship program, one that connected me to the two major dailies in my city.

But if I ever bow out of journalism, my degree shows that I know how to speak, write and listen well. Oh, and that I took about five business classes to satisfy the requirement that all journalism majors “minor” in something.

Even beyond involvement on campus, you took advantage of some internship opportunities. Tell me about the Philadelphia Inquirer and what you learned there.

Spending time at the Inquirer was liberating; it showed me that my dreams of being a professional, big-city reporter could be more than just dreams. I learned how to generate story ideas, how to navigate the temper of an editor who has eight hours to do 14 hours’ worth of work, and how to suck it up when said editor rips your copy to ribbons.

Honestly, my favorite internship wasn’t there. It was at the Pocono Record, a tiny regional paper that I grew up reading in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The editor there, Chris Mele, was a mentor that any cub reporter would kill for; I still ask him for advice. The Record was my first taste of the daily demands of newspaper life.  Mele also taught me how to investigate. Under his tutelage I produced a number of award winning pieces for the Record, ranging from an expose on how the county’s bridges were deteriorating to how female public employees still make considerably less than their male counterparts.

You also interned at the Denver Post. What were the lessons you learned there?

The Post showed me what it’s like to be thrust into a story that has national attention. How to properly plan coverage of an issue that continues to evolve, how to find angles that are compelling beyond the base facts of what happened. To this day, I’m still amazed at how quickly the staff plumbed the depths of those stories.

You also had some exciting things happen while at the Post. Tell me about them.

The answer to this refer heavily to my previous answer. The summer 2012 was one of the most tumultuous for the Mile High City in recent decades. When I landed in Denver in early June, devastating wildfires were tearing through the mountains nearby. Meanwhile, at the worst possible time, the paper’s ownership slashed the copy desk from about 12 people to just four, including me. I went from writing features cutlines in my first week on the job to writing front-page headlines.

And then James Eagan Holmes opened fire on a movie theater in the suburbs. I was drunk the night that happened, at a screening of the same movie in a theater around the corner from the Post. I had no idea what had happened until the next morning, when I woke up to texts and voicemails from everyone I knew.

My good friend Matt, who worked at the Post with me, still talks about that night and the days that followed: The hustle and determination that everyone on the staff had, trying to make sense of this maniac’s callous act.

And then, about a year later, after I had settled back on the East Coast, I got a call from my former editor telling me my name was going to appear on a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, that the stories I had edited and helped lay out had won journalism’s highest honor.

I peaked at 22.

Would you recommend internships for other college students? Why/not?

Not only would I recommend internships, I would tell any student that if you don’t have one, you’re wasting your time trying to find a job.

It goes back to what I said above about “proof of concept.” Would you hire a tattoo artist who never tattooed anyone before? Who just picked up a needle and promised to do a good job? Or would you find the artist that carried a portfolio of his work with him?

What make your internships valuable to your career overall?

They give you experience that you simply can’t get in a classroom. College newspaper experience is great, but college newspaper newsrooms are run by college students who don’t have any idea how actual newsrooms are run. They’re a great launchpad, but they can’t sustain a career by themselves.

Internships allow you to put into practice what you’ve spent so much time discussing in a classroom, and also sharpen the skills you think you’ve perfected at your campus newspaper.

There is simply no substitute for an internship. And don’t rely on just one. I graduated with five under my belt, and did a sixth one in 2012 through Dow Jones News Fund after I received my diploma.

Wanna know what happened? I got a job with very minimal effort.

Because people knew who I was, and that’s important, too. Networking is another tenet of our industry: People trust proven brands. Because editors at the Daily News knew my work from when I was an intern, they felt comfortable hiring me. Simple as that.

Tell me a little bit about your job as a crime reporter now.