By Mike “Doop” Deupree
NSNC Contest Chair
If you are particularly proud of that cleverly phrased “to do” list you put on the refrigerator, can you enter it in the annual writing contest of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists?
Sorry, no. But if you wrote something that was read outside your kitchen, chances are pretty good it’s eligible … IF you enter it before the March 1 deadline.
- Hildy, dammit, we gotta move. Doop says the NSNC’s column contest deadline is March 1.
The 2012 contest – the only nationwide contest solely for columnists — has categories for general interest columns and humor columns in both large (over 50,000 circulation) and not-so-large (under 50,000) newspapers. It also has categories for online columns and blogs, again for large and not-so large audiences, with the division point being 100,000 monthly unique visitors.
Click this sentence for the contest entry form.
Then pay securely by PayPal by clicking this sentence.
Winners will be announced at the annual NSNC conference, which this year is scheduled for Macon, Ga., May 3-6. The top three entries in each category will receive personalized plaques, as well as a significant discount if they choose to attend the conference. The best award, of course, will be the proof that somebody besides you, your significant other and your loyal pet thinks the stuff you write is pretty doggone good.
Entry fee is $25 for NSNC members and $45 for non-members. An entry consists of three columns, no more or less, published in 2011. You can submit entries in one category, all six categories or something in between. Detailed information about rules, how to enter, etc., is available at the Column Contest post. Questions can be directed to me, the contest chair, Mike Deupree, via the Contact Form.
So if you haven’t already done so, dig through what you wrote in 2011, pick out the cream of the crop, and get your entry into the hopper. The fact February has an extra day this month isn’t an excuse to drag your feet.
