The annual contest of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists is open! The deadline this year is: Sunday, March 15, midnight Pacific Has been extended to midnight Pacific on Wednesday, April 1! Besides fame, winners and finalists get a token of fortune: $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. Finalists and…
Entering the 2015 NSNC Column Contest requires two steps: Completing the entry form and paying the fee. Each has convenient options. The 2015 Contest Entry Form is available in two versions: Entry form as PDF Entry form as Word doc Print out your choice, fill out and postal-mail to NSNC headquarters with a check. Mailed-in…
These are the rules for the 2015 column contest, covering columns published in the 2014 calendar year. First place in each category will receive $300, second place $200 and third place $100, in addition to certificates. Honorable mentions receive certificates. Deadline for entries is Sunday, March 15, 2015, now Wednesday, April 1, 2015, midnight Pacific.…
Dorothy Rosby, a National Society of Newspaper Columnists member, published in November a column collection, I Used to Think I Was Not That Bad and Then I Got to Know Me Better. She writes at her website dorothyrosby.com that it’s “the book for people who read self-improvement books and never get any better. (Also for…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring 2004-06 President National Society of Newspaper Columnists It’s much ado about nothing. Or perhaps I should say “adieu.” Time Magazine’s Fourth Annual Word Banishment Poll is all high and mighty about what words to ban in 2015. Wordsmiths at Time please take note: The primary meaning of…
Mary Stobie, a National Society of Newspaper Columnists member, released in October what she calls a “patchwork memoir,” You Fall Off, You Get Back On. The 204-page book is published by Liberator Press and is available through local booksellers or online. According to her website marystobie.com, the volume is “an unusual and just plain joyful…
President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists This month’s message is brought to you by the Jerry’s Kids College, Wedding and Adorable Granddaughter Fund, a nonprofit organization so disorganized that it doesn’t make a profit. I wouldn’t want to see other organizations that are close to my heart (and other vital…
President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Gentle Readers: I am writing from my manor in the manner of Miss Manners, using all manner of mannerly ways to say that Judith Martin (aka the aforementioned Miss Manners) has kindly and graciously accepted our invitation to attend the NSNC conference in Indianapolis…
you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist Are you getting your Pulitzer contest entry ready for 2014? I’m not kidding. I just looked at the winners for commentary going back to 1970. No active NSNC member has ever won. Sure, plenty of Pulitzer winners have attended our conferences as special guests when…
Judith Martin, known to newspaper readers around the world as Miss Manners, will receive the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The award will be presented at the NSNC’s 2015 conference, which will run from June 25-28 in Indianapolis. Martin has been writing her popular advice column since 1978.…
W. Bruce Cameron‘s latest novel, to be published Oct. 28 by Forge Books, is a 2014 Kirkus Award for Fiction nominee. The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man is described at this link of Macmillan. The story is a comic mystery that includes — of course — a dog. Here, it’s a basset hound named Jake.…
Gene Weingarten, the recipient of 2014 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, has published a new book, his first for children. Me & Dog was released in September by Simon & Schuster. The illustrator is Eric Shansby. Weingarten gave some background for his book in his column in The…
Jennifer Grant, a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, has not one but two books out this fall. Disquiet Time: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a Few Scoundrels (Hachette/Jericho Books), co-edited by religion columnist Cathleen Falsani, has an Oct. 21 release date. It is endorsed…
President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists With apologies to Frank Sullivan, the late, little-known but wonderful humorist who created Mr. Arbuthnot, the cliché expert, I am happy to introduce Mr. Lingo, the NSNC’s new, unsalaried language guru. Q: Welcome, Mr. Lingo. You are an expert in the use of clichés that…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring 2004-06 President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Dinner with forensic scientist Dr. Henry C. Lee, blogging and “what’s-it all-about-Alfie” all came together for me one night. You see, a question gnaws at the edges of my gray matter. Can one have writing success without a vibrant blog?…
you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist I’m taking the long view with you, the columnist, about the future of journalism and column writing. The long view now is 18 months away. Remember when it was five years? In this briefest of essays, I was prepared to argue that all the efforts…
President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists I write an alleged humor column (I have to say “alleged” because I am not above suing even myself) for a simple reason: I am spectacularly unqualified to do anything else. I knew I wanted to be a writer in high school, not just…
