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
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 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…
Paula LaRocque: Some tips for clear and graceful writing Noted writing coach Paula LaRocque brought her years of experience to the 2007 Will Rogers Writers’ Workshop in Oklahoma City where she shared some of her ideas about writing. Here are a few of her tips to improve your writing: Keep sentences short. The…
Seeking the Story Behind the NSNC Logo By Sheila Moss, NSNC Web Editor With contribution by Jonathan Nicholas, NSNC President, ’96-’97 Have you ever wondered about the NSNC logo? What is it anyhow and where did it come from? A few people have voiced strongly negative feelings about “the head,” while others find it curiously…
By Suzette Martinez Standring Past President, NSNC Can writers learn to be funny? To go from giggles to guffaws, is there a formula? On June 22 in Philadelphia, Dave Barry shared humor writing “secrets” before the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Robert Benchley once wrote, “Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless…
They love Mark Lane in Florida. The longtime columnist for the Daytona Beach News-Journal drew highly favorable comments about his book, “Sandspurs.” One critic called him “the best thing to come out of Daytona since Bike Week.” Another noted that “he makes us laugh at our own misadventures.” Lane was a featured speaker at…
NSNC Annual Columnist ContestDeadline Extended Until May 2 Words you probably never hear from your editor: Deadline extended! You can count on NSNC for a lot of things. State-of-industry knowledge. Writing clinics. Good friends. Count our “contest deadline extensions” among those. This year we’re extending the deadline to Friday, May 2. Categories include humor, sports,…
Happy National Columnists’ Day and Ernie Pyle Remembrance Day! We celebrate on April 18 to honor the accomplishments of Ernie Pyle and all of those who are dedicated to column-writing today. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists, founded in 1977, created National Columnists’ Day to be celebrated each year on April 18, in memory of…
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…
