By Laura Snyder Nationally Syndicated Columnist “Survive and Thrive” may have been the theme of this year’s conference, but Twitter was the name and Tweeting was the game. It was everywhere. Each speaker had some very innovative ideas for getting us through the paper-to-digital transition, but the underlined advice in nearly every speech was “You…
By Samantha Bennett I don’t mean to gloat and make you feel bad if you weren’t there, but I have to say: Ventura kicked butt. It was a career seminar that was also a great party, a celebration that was also an education. Steve Lopez inspired us. Jeff Zaslow brought us to tears. Jon Carroll…
NSNC member Beth Ashley, a longtime columnist for the Marin Independent Journal in Northern California, has announced her retirement after 40-some years, 26 of them as a columnist. Craig Wilson broke the news in his column in USA Today. They met when she worked at Wilson’s paper a few months “on loan” from the…
Mike Harden was a regular attendedee at our conferences until 2008 when he was busy working on a book about a restaurant chain founder Bob Evans. He collaborated with his daughter, Robbin, on the book “A Bountiful Heart.” Retired from the Columbus Dispatch, Harden still writes a twice-weekly metro column.
“A Year in the Life of a ‘Working’ Writer. A Memoir to the Best of the Recollection of Ernie Witham“, chronicles Ernie’s constant search for that next humor column and the life surrounding a humor columnist, including the daily interactions with his family, friends, fellow writers and all the people he meets in a year’s…
By Samantha Bennett NSNC President Well, this is it. I hope your travel plans are made and your registration is paid, because this is going to be one hell of a conference — especially considering the air of austerity and nervousness permeating our nation and our industry. Conference chairs Bill Nash and Gretchen…
By Dave Lieber http://www.YankeeCowboy.com Fort Worth Star-Telegram Do you think about your karma? I think about it every day. I don’t worry about deadlines. I worry that I’m not putting enough good karma out there so it comes back. So I go overboard, dumping karma over the side of my life boat as if…
Laurence Cohen of the Hartford Courant won the First Place “Excellence in Journalism” award from the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in the Op-Ed Column category. He also received an Honorable Mention for his column in the Hartford Business Journal.
“Kudzu’s Last Stand,” a short story by Cappy Hall Rearick, was selected to appear in the Florida Writers Association Collection #1 — From Our Family to Yours. Another short story, “A Cellular Christmas,” was picked for publication in “Christmas Traditions,” a collection of holiday stories. Her most recent book, a novel titled “Return to…
By Samantha Bennett NSNC President We keep hearing that print journalism is dead, that no one reads it, that it’s irrelevant and dull and deservedly outmoded. And yet … somehow, your local multiplex didn’t get that memo. In “State of Play,” Russell Crowe plays a crusty investigative reporter who goes after a…
Joel Schwartzberg, second place winner in the Online Category of the 2009 writing contest, has a new book which was just released, “The 40-Year-Old Version: Humoirs of a Divorced Dad”. You can find more information at: http://www.divorceddadbook.com/. *NOTE: When you click on the Amazon link from our website and buy a book at Amazon, a percentage of…
The Black Cow, a student newspaper with Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Dave Lieber as its adviser, swept the Texas state scholastic competition by winning 55 awards. The paper eclipsed its own record from last year and is credited with “vaulting Westlake Academy to journalistic prominence.” (Read the full story from Alliance Regional Newspapers at http://bit.ly/z14cF…
Dorothy Brush, an octogenarian from Tennessee, was not up to traveling to California for last year’s conference. But she reports that “my brain is still working well and I continue doing two columns each week, plus a few features, too.” NSNC named her Columnist of the Year in 2004 for her courageous battle against cancer,…
Mental Health America presented a special award, The Bell Award for Significant Contributions to Mental Health Journalism, to Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times at a media awards luncheon in Washington, D.C. Lopez, the 2009 conference keynote speaker, is the author of “The Soloist,” which inspired the film of the same name. He won…
What is the story behind National Columnists Day? By Dave Lieber Secretary, NSNC Education Foundation Columnist, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Website: Yankee Cowboy The office memo changed the course of my writing life. Back in the 1980s, I was a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Gene Roberts, the great editor, sent us a note…
By Samantha Bennett NSNC President Hope you’re all getting registered and making your hotel and travel arrangements for the conference in Ventura! Now more than ever, we need our network and the professional advice that our speakers and panelists will provide. I joined representatives of other groups at the Council of National Journalism Organizations’…
Freelance writer Ben Shaberman of Baltimore has had a book published. “The Vegan Monologues” is a collection of “humorous, intelligent and insightful essays on vegan life.” The book explores the lighter side of the meat-free lifestyle. Shaberman’s reflections will put a smile on the faces of vegans and omnivores alike. Shaberman’s essays have appeared…
