By Suzette Martinez Standring, NSNC Past President
“Please come to Boston,” as sung by David Allan Coe has a plaintive tone, but we don’t have to beg. For our 30th anniversary annual meeting, we’ll have it all.
Our meeting on June 30-July 2, 2006 will place us in the center of Fourth of July celebrations in Boston. Our site, the Omni Parker House, is located on downtown’s historic Freedom Trail and boasts a 150-year history of continuing operation. That puts us in one of the best hotels in one of America’s best cities at the best time of year.
Did I mention Boston Beer/Samuel Adams is kicking in the beverages for our hospitality suite?
Award winning speakers are on board to inspire us higher in programs such as Courting Controversy and Effective Writing; Women and Editorial Writing; and Beyond the Book. Panels will explore trends and innovation through How and Why Columnists Blog; Writing Your Way to the Airwaves; and Writing for Hispanic Publications. Don’t miss revealing insights during Demon Editors or Diva Columnists To Edit or Not To Edit Columnists; and The Results of the 2005 Columnists’ Demographics Survey.
Friday’s lunch at the Omni Parker will feature Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Jones on The Media Crisis and Its Impact on Columnists. Later evening surprises are in store at Suffolk University’s newly renovated library, located just across the street.
On Saturday morning, it’s our chance to enjoy insights during group discussions, and warm thanks to Copyright Clearance Center/Beyond the Book for sponsoring our networking breakfast.
Arianna Huffington will present the keynote at a lunch hosted by nearby Suffolk University Law School. Afterward, it’s all aboard Boston’s famous “Ducks,” World War II era amphibious vehicles, to tour city streets and take a float down the Charles River.
Come applaud the winners — our annual Column Writing Awards fete the finest among us; the Scholarship Award recognizes the new generation of columnists and rewards the best of college-level writing. The Will Rogers Humanitarian Award honors those who have wrought positive change in their communities. For sheer tomfoolery, we bestow our annual Mystic Tie and Sitting Duck Awards.
That night, we’ll raise the roof for Art Buchwald who is our 2006 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Our tribute will include a 40-member performance by the award-winning South Central Mass Choir. Our deep appreciation goes to the Boston Globe Foundation for sponsorship.
Please come to Boston, but we don’t have to beg. We have it all. Be proudly reminded that being a columnist, as Andy Rooney once told us, “is the greatest job in the world.”
