The National Society of Newspaper Columnists was founded in 1977 and exists to promote professionalism and camaraderie among North American newspaper columnists. Membership is open to general interest, humor, op-ed, online, or other newspaper columnists. Academics and student columnists also are eligible to join. The annual conference is NSNC's primary event. The group also publishes a bi-monthly newsletter, maintains this website and advocates for columnists and free-press issues. New members are welcome - please join us!
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New Year Brings Many Changes
By Robert L. Haught
Editor, The e-Columnist
 For columnists and other journalists personally, the biggest story of 2008 was the continuing demise of newspapers. Editor&Publisher, in its annual top 10 industry stories for the year, said 2008 "could go down as the worst year for newspapers." "Record Job Cuts" topped E&P's list, reporting that the U.S. Department of Labor estimates some 21,000 newspaper industry jobs disappeared this year.
The Internet has overtaken newspapers as a source for news, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. "The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news," the Center said.
All of this has had a profound impact on columnists and brought about radical changes in the lives of many. Among those affected is our president, Samantha Bennett. Read about how her life is changing in the President's Message.
Changes also are taking place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. In an effort to be more responsive to NSNC members, the board of directors took an online survey, which produced some very informative results. Even before the findings were published in the January issue of the newsletter, the board took action to keep in step with the times: creating a new contest category for bloggers and modifying the online column category; amending the by-laws to open membership to writers other than columnists; and most important, designing an annual conference program that emphasizes professional development and features sessions on how to cope with the changes taking place.
NSNC is a well-established organization with a rich history of progress. It is a good group, but whether it is strong enough to meet the economic challenges of 2009 lies with its members. It is more important than ever, absolutely vital, that we maintain and expand our membership. If you are uncertain about renewing your membership, please don't hesitate to send in your dues now.
The 10 per cent discount announced last month has been extended to January 31. That means you can renew for only $45 per year, much less than writers pay to belong to many other organizations. Think one special dinner, one concert ticket, one print cartridge. The rate is available to new members as well, so do some recruiting for the good of the cause.
The board is striving hard to gain sponsorships for the Ventura conference, in a time when such funds are hard to come by. We are determined to make every effort to produce one of the best conferences ever held. We've got some top-notch speakers and some excellent workshops. The setting for our annual meeting is conducive both to learning and pleasure. But we need your support. So make plans now to be present in Ventura June 25-28, 2009 to see old friends and meet new ones.
But now, read about some of the changes that 2009 brings.
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2009 Column-Writing Contest OPEN
Deadline March 15, 2009
The 2009 Column Writing Contest is now open with five categories for print columns and two categories for online columns. Complete rules and further information for the contest can be found on the contest page and on the contest entry form.
1st place $ 300 -- 2nd place $ 200 -- 3rd place $100
Entry fee is $25 per entry for members and $45 for non-members. An entry consists of three columns published between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008.
Bloggers are eligible to submit entries for the first time. See special rules on the contest page. In addition, the rules for online columnists have changed in order to permit more columnists to enter, including those who write online in places other than on established newspaper sites.
Winners will be announced at the Annual NSNC Conference in Ventura, California, June 25-28, 2009 and also announced in the post conference edition of the NSNC Newsletter, as well as here on the NSNC website.
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Thompson replaces O’Reilly
Bill O’Reilly, keynote speaker at the NSNC Philadelphia conference, has given up his 6-year-old radio show, the Reality Factor, to concentrate on his Fox News TV show. He will be replaced by Fred Thompson, politician, actor and 2008 presidential candidate.
No stranger to entertainment and media, Thompson has appeared in numerous movies and television programs, including popular spots on Paul Harvey’s show and as the DA on the TV drama “Law & Order”. The southern conservative will air in a tough slot opposite Rush Limbaugh in most markets.
The show will feature guest interviews and listener calls, as well as Thompson sharing his views and stories about politics and culture in a down-home “dialog with America.” It is yet to be seen if his entry into talk radio will be more successful than his presidential bid.
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2009 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award is open for nominations
 This award is presented annually by the NATIONAL SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS to a columnist whose sustained work in civic journalism has produced tangible benefits for the community
Will Rogers was an American cowboy philosopher-humorist of the early 20th century. Best known for his timeless wit and wisdom,Rogers also was a great humanitarian, helping many worthwhile causes and giving much of his fortune to charities.
Any salaried, staff, syndicated or regularly published newspaper columnist who is not a previous winner is eligible for the award. The nominee must have written columns that appeared in a daily or weekly newspaper in the U.S. or Canada during 2008 which related to his or her humanitarian activities. Nominations may be submitted by a newspaper editor, managing editor, executive editor, publisher or community leader. Rules and additional information can be found on the Humantarian Awards Page.
Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2009. The award will be presented at the annual NSNC Conference June 25-28 in Ventura, CA. The winner is expected to attend.
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Lopez to Keynote Conference
 Steve Lopez, award-winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, will be the keynote speaker for the 33rd annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He will speak at a luncheon on Friday, June 26, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach hotel in Ventura, Calif.
Lopez, author of a book made into a major motion picture being released next spring, also will appear on a panel moderated by columnist-author-screenwriter W. Bruce Cameron, whose latest book, "8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter" is scheduled for production by 26 Films.
Lopez joined the staff of the Los Angeles Times in May 2001 after four years at Time Inc., where he wrote for Time, Sports Illustrated, Life and Entertainment Weekly.
Prior to Time Inc., Lopez was a columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune. His work has won numerous national journalism awards for column writing and magazine reporting.
A California native, Lopez is the author of three novels and a book of non-fiction, "The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, And the Redemptive Power of Music." The book, which made the best-seller lists of both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, is based on columns Lopez wrote for his newspaper about his friendship with a downtown Los Angeles musician, Nathaniel Ayers.
In the movie, Robert Downey, Jr., plays the part of Lopez. Academy award winner Jamie Foxx stars as Nathaniel Ayers. The film is scheduled to be in theaters April 24, 2009.
Lopez was the recipient of the 2004 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him that year at the NSNC conference in New Orleans.
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Rick Newcombe of Creators Syndicate to speak at Ventura Conference
Rick Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate will speak at the Ventura Conference where the theme will be “Survive and Thrive”. One of the most asked questions by columnists everywhere is "How can I become syndicated?"
Creators Syndicate was formed in 1987 with the idea of working toward a more equitable arrangement between syndicates and the talent that they represent. With many newspapers struggling due to competition from electronic media and the Internet, most experts thought it impossible to start a successful new syndication company.
Syndication is a tough business dominated by eight big operations that serve the newspaper industry. Creators Syndicate is one of only three successful organizations that have started up in the past 50 years.
Newcombe offers writers and artists shorter term contracts and copyright ownership of their work and utilizes digital delivery .
"We're not in the newspaper business, we're in the content business, and so a lot of our new business is coming from new media - iPods, cell phones, the Internet. Our goal is to find the very best content. Our assets are the columnists and the cartoonists that we represent," Newcombe said.
Creators began with a bang, signing up the late Ann Landers. It has represented many well-known journalists in the past, such as, Art Buchwald, and Molly Ivins. Its current list includes not only top writers and artists but also specialists from other fields writing columns.
At the present time, Creators represents a diversity of well known names, over 100 writers and artists, from Bill O'Reilly to Bruce Cameron; Hillary Clinton to Linda Chavez,; and Pat Buchanan to Andy Borowitz. It includes opinion columnists, lifestyle features, political cartoonists and other cartoonists in its gallery of talent..
You can read more about Creators Syndicate on their website.
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NSNC Membership - A Perfect Gift!
Shopping around for a writers group that can help you improve your skills, show you how to market your work and give you fun in the process? The perfect gift for yourself and someone you know is a membership in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
This 31-year-old organization of columnists from all across the United States and parts of Canada extends a welcome to writers of all types. The NSNC Board has amended the organization's by-laws to include as regular members freelancers, self-syndicated or independent writers, or writers published on the Internet in any medium as online columnists or in blogs.
The change followed the board's recent decision to allow writers other than those employed by newspapers to enter the NSNC's annual column writing contest. The by-laws change welcomes new members into full fellowship of the organizaion, and provides regular membership benefits, which include:
-- a monthly newsletter filled with news and writing tips
-- professional listing on the NSNC Web site www.columnists.com
-- publication of your career achievements, including books you have published
-- exchange of ideas with other members via the NSNC Yahoo discussion list
-- discount on column writing contest fees
-- discount on annual conference registration fees
-- and much more.
Now, for a limited time only, you can join NSNC at the discounted rate of $45 per year -- that's a 10 percent reduction from the standard membership fee. But you must act now. This offer is good only till December 31, 2008. Go to www.columnists.com and click on Membership. The rest is easy. You can pay your dues online by using PayPal.
Don't miss out on all NSNC has to offer. You'll want to attend the annual conference at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach in Ventura, Calif., June 25-28, 2009. The program focuses on "how to survive and thrive" in the current state of the news. Both columnists and fellow writers will gain many benefits from presentations by Steve Lopez, award-winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Rick Newcombe, president of Creators Syndicate, W. Bruce Cameron, author of 8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter and two previous novels; Jeffrey Zaslow, co-author with Randy Pausch of the No. 1 best-seller, The Last Lecture; Jon Carroll, prize-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle; Suzette Martinez Standring, noted author of The Art of Column Writing; and many other authorities.
Give yourself the perfect gift. Join NSNC and reap the benefits for now and the year to come.
Robert L. Haught
Columnist News Editor
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 Early Bird Special - Join or renew your membership and receive $5 off the regular membership dues until January 31st. JOIN NOW
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The Columnists' Academy
The Columnists' Academy is an online training resource for writers at all stages of their careers. It's never too late to learn something new or to sharpen your skills.
Your contributions to this series are welcome. Please e-mail the Web Editor.
In this article, we hear from Laura Snyder, a journalistic newbie, and how her novice approach to column-writing led to a successful self-syndicated humor column.
Laura said, "...I am one of those columnists that longtime columnists probably don't like very much. You see, I had been writing for my own pleasure for twenty years, but when I started submitting my humor column, Laura On Life, three and a half years ago, I had absolutely no clue how newspapers work. "
Read Secrets of a Journalistic Newbie
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NSNC Board Ammends By-laws
In a meeting Tuesday evening, December 9th, the board amended the by-laws of the organization to include as regular members those who freelance, are self-syndicated, independent writers or writers published on the Internet in any medium as online columnists or in blogs.
This change was in keeping with the board’s previous decision to allow writers other than those employed by newspapers to enter the annual column writing contest sponsored by the board. The change in by-laws welcomes the new members into full fellowship of the organization and provides regular membership benefits. The complete by-law can be seen in Article III paragraph 3.
In other business, the board moved forward with plans for the Ventura conference. Co Chair, Jason Love, has resigned for business and personal reasons, and the board is currently seeking a replacement, as well as continuing to offer sponsorship opportunities, finalizing speakers, and making plans to meet with the visitor’s bureau in Ventura to determine activities that might be of interest to visiting columnists.
The annual conference will be held at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach in California June 25-27, 2009. Featured speakers will include Steve Lopez, award-winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Rick Newcombe, president of Creators Syndicate, Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronice, lifetime achievement award winner, Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal and co-author of The Last Lecture, and W. Bruce Cameron, The 8 Simple Rules guy.
The theme of the conference will be alternative ways to make the most of a journalism background, writing skills, and newspaper experience in turbulent times .
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NSNC opens its doors to online columnists and bloggers
 Breaking from tradition, NSNC has voted to add a new category to the annual NSNC writing contest, a category for blogs. “The blog-column category is open to all North Americans who write a web log of original material, whether they publish it independently or if their blog is published by a third party, such as their employer, media syndicate or aggregator.”
“The first criterion for winning the NSNC blog-column category is quality of the work, bound by commonly accepted journalism values. The second criterion is how well the entry, overall and individually, honors the three-century history of newspaper columns in tradition, format, spirit and variety.” The actual name of contributors must be evident in each blog posting and pseudonyms are unacceptable.
To maintain consistency with the new category for bloggers, the current separate online column category was modified to delete the restriction that online columns must be published by newspaper websites. Any online columnist is now eligible whether the online column is sponsored by a newspaper, on their own websites, or on other sites easily accessible by the general public.
To be eligible in the online category, the work must be original content appearing only online. If the work appeared in print, even after online publication, it is ineligible for the online category. Multimedia columns, such as video, audio, and flash are also eligible in whatever category is applicable. Current categories for printed columns cover general-interest, humor, and notes/items.
Long bound by traditional definitions of columnists as those appearing in legitimate newspapers only, this is an innovative step by a national newspaper organization to recognize the nature of the role of bloggers and cyber columnists in providing newsworthy opinion and commentary. Many print journalists are also expanding their writing into the vast Internet market and a response to the changing functions of columnists is seen as a desirable move.
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SUPPORT NSNCEF – MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION
If you're feeling charitable, here's another opportunity to support a worthy cause.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists Education Foundation, which sponsors an annual college scholarship program, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization.
You can support this endeavor and get a break on your income taxes by making a tax-deductible contribution. Just send a check payable to NSNCEF to NSNC, P.O. Box 411532, San Francisco, CA 94141.
The NSNCEF awards scholarships to outstanding students who write columns for U.S. college or university undergraduate newspapers. First prize is $1,000. Second prize is $500. Third prize is $250. Find complete information on the NSNC Web site.
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CALL FOR ENTRIES: 2009 RNA AWARDS FOR RELIGION REPORTING EXCELLENCE
The Religion Newswriters Association invites journalists to enter its 2009 contests recognizing religion reporting excellence in the news media. Nearly $6,500 in prizes and citations is awarded in eight contest categories.
• Religion Reporter of the Year—print & online
• Religion Writer of the Year—print & online (Supple)
• Religion Pages/Sections—print & online (Schachern)
• Student Reporter of the Year—print & online (Chandler)
• Religion Reporter of the Year at small or mid-sized newspapers
—print & online (Cassels & Cornell)
• Television Religion Reporter of the Year
• Radio Religion Reporter of the Year
Visit http://www.RNA.org/eligibility.php for entry forms and more information.
Postmark deadline: Feb. 2, 2009
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Official NSNC T-Shirts On Sale!
$20
Only Medium and X-Large sizes left.
Medium
X-Large
Proceeds go to our NSNC Education Foundation (501c3).
Your donation is tax-deductible.
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Please submit news items, news tips, ideas for stories and other suggestions to NSNCwebeditor@yahoo.com
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We have a great Discussion Group!
You must be a current member of NSNC to subscribe.
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1/2/09
Copyright 2006-2009 NSNC
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