- Dave Barry. Photo by daniel portnoy www.danielportnoy.com
MACON, Ga. — Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist Dave Barry will be honored with the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The announcement was made Thursday night, May 3, in Macon, Ga., at the top of the society’s 2012 national conference, where New York Times columnist Gail Collins will be presented the 2012 award on May 5.
“Whether you label him ‘columnist,’ ‘author,’ ‘humorist,’ ‘essayist’ or larger-than-life personality, Dave Barry represents the best of what we admire and aspire to at NSNC,” said the society’s vice president, Larry Cohen (candidate for 2012-14 president). “We are proud to award him our Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013.”
For 25 years, Barry was a syndicated newspaper columnist, based at The Miami Herald, whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He retired from the grueling form of weekly column writing in 2004, but still contributes special projects, including his signature Christmas gift guide and year in review pieces, and will file reports from the London Olympics later this summer.
Barry also is the author of more than 30 books, including his newest, Lunatics: A Novel, co-written with Alan Zweibel, which was released in January and is already set to become a movie starring Steve Carell.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists was founded in 1977 and exists to promote professionalism and camaraderie among print and online columnists. Membership is open to general interest, humor, op-ed, blog, or other newspaper columnists. Academics and student columnists also are eligible to join. The annual conference is NSNC’s primary event, and concludes Sunday in Macon, where it was hosted by Macon Telegraph columnist Ed Grisamore.
The society’s 2013 conference is scheduled for June 27-30 in St. Petersburg, Fla., to be hosted by the society’s Larry Cohen. For more information, visit www.columnists.com.
