The National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the launch of the 2025 Annual Columnist Contest. The contest will officially kick off on January 15 and run through April 15, 2025. To enter the contest, click go to https://nsnc.submittable.com/submit
Sunshine Week, March 16-22 is an annual event in March that highlights the importance of public records and open government. NSNC supports and celebrates Sunshine Week Here's a list of upcoming events: https://sunshineweek.org/events-calendar/.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists Education Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable organization [501(c)3] devoted to the education and training of new and experienced columnists everywhere. Donate here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/NSNCEdFnd
We are excited for What’s in-store for NSNC members this year. We just launched the 2025 NSNC Annual Columnist Contest, so you’ll want to be sure your membership is up-to-date. Also, if you have ideas, suggestions, etc., please share them with our President Meredith Cummings at meredithcummings@gmail.com or Executive Director Ginny McCabe at nsncdirector@gmail.com. Thank you for your support of NSNC!
By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist www.yankeecowboy.com My first journalistic mentor was noted writer H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger. While in high school, I read his columns in the University of Pennsylvania student newspaper and decided I wanted to be like him. I enrolled at Penn, and in my first week as a freshman…
Samantha Bennett Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Hello, NSNC. I’m Samantha Bennett, and I write a weekly humor column for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Having been your membership chair and vice president, I’m now your president for the next two years. I ran on the strength of my cartwheeling prowess — but let me tell you a little more…
Smiley Anders The Advocate, Baton Rouge It takes a lot to shut up a bunch of columnists. These are people used to expressing their opinions forcefully – and often. On Saturday I was in a bus full of them, and they were finally at a loss for words. At the 32nd annual conference of the…
I was going to write about our upcoming conference in New Orleans, or how I’ve spent the week doing stuff like recording podcasts and scripting Web videos and producing parody ads. But I can’t. Not right now. My friend Jim Hubley died. He had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor just a few days…
By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram Secretary, NSNC Education Foundation www.yankeecowboy.com I looked all over for my Wall Street Journal. But it wasn’t there the other day. No, the New York Times, the Dallas Morning News and my own Fort Worth Star-Telegram were lying there on the driveway. But no Journal. This bothered me. I…
By Terry Marotta Columnist, The Citizen of Laconia (N.H.) Last Tuesday a seventh grader named Danielle wrote to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists with some questions about our work. She needed the answers by Friday and was sorry this was so last-minute, but she did hope someone could help her. As a proud member…
Suzette Standring is now the Chief Correspondent for Firefighters Vs Cancer, http://www.firefightersvscancer.org, a website that promotes early cancer detection for firefighters, who have a significantly higher risk of occupational cancer. Suzette will share their stories, and the website also has a purchase link for OneTest early cancer screening kits available to the public. She also…
Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison’s birthday, March 16 (1751). Madison was a driving force behind the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and presented the first version of the Bill of Rights to Congress. He also was the fourth president of the United States. Coordinated by the nonpartisan Joseph L. Brechner Freedom…
Jerry Zezima Celebrates 40 Years of His Syndicated Humor Column! This marks the 40th anniversary of my syndicated humor column, which is distributed to 600 newspapers nationwide and abroad by Tribune News Service. I began writing my column in 1985 at my hometown paper, the Stamford (Conn.) Advocate, which still runs it. I write humor…
Enter your best work in the NSNC 2025 Annual Columnist Contest – Entries accepted through April 15. Enter here: https://nsnc.submittable.com/submit. Best of luck to all!
The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop is bringing writers together for a special daylong virtual event, “The Virtual Erma: Stories of Our Lives Featuring Anne Lamott,” on Saturday, April 5. The day includes five live, interactive writing workshops, plus an exclusive, pre-recorded keynote from the legendary Anne Lamott. Early bird rate: $109 until March 15. For more information and to…
