Sitting Duck 2015 INDIANAPOLIS, June 27, 2015 — In the first-in-the-nation Indiana straw-man caucus, Donald Trump swept all other candidates for the Sitting Duck Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The award is given each year to a subject or person, about which or whom columnists can easily grab, much as low-hanging fruit,…
Category: Announcements
Press releases and other announcements from the NSNC
2015 Slate of Officer Nominees
The 2015 Nominating Committee of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists presents the following slate of nominees to two-year positions being left vacant June 30. Secretary: Telly Halkias Treasurer: Kathy Eliscu Archivist: Dave Astor Contest chair: Michele Wojciechowski Membership chair: Amanda Beam This year’s Nominating Committee comprised NSNC former presidents Eric Heyl, Suzette Martinez Standring…
Hoosier Youngest to Receive Rogers Honor
Will Rogers Humanitarian Award An award-winning writer from The Indianapolis Star has been chosen to receive the 2015 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award at the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Marisa Kwiatkowski, an investigative reporter covering social services, will be recognized for her outstanding work on behalf of children. In nominating her…
A Message from NSNC President Jerry Zezima
NSNC 2015 — Indianapolis The National Society of Newspaper Columnists will hold its 2015 conference June 25-28 in Indianapolis. Here is a statement to the membership from NSNC President Jerry Zezima. Dear NSNC members: As our conference in Indianapolis approaches — and it will be here before we know it — I have heard from…
Do You Know a Humanitarian?
Will Rogers Humanitarian Award Has your community suffered a natural disaster within the past year — flood, fire, tornado or earthquake? If so, did local news media get involved in coming to the aid of victims, during and after the event? Was there one individual columnist or other writer who performed outstanding service? That person…
Columnists Cover ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Attack
Journalists, American ones at least, keep a rope line between reportage and commentary, and by extension between photojournalism and illustration. U.S. discussions on news concentrate on the presentation of factual material. If we accept, though, that journalism is inclusive in this continuum — and the major media practitioner societies show this by endorsing the “Je…
Entries sought for 2014 Robert Benchley Contest
The Robert Benchley Society has opened its 2014 Humor Writing Award Competition, named for the early 20th century humorist. The deadline is Sept. 15, his 125th birthday, having been born in 1889. The society also announced that political comedian Mark Russell will be the finalists’ judge this year. Information on the competition can be found…
Hoosier Wins Ugly Tie for Silly Story
Jeff Kramer Mystic Tie Award 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amanda Beam, columnist at the News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Indiana, is the winner of the 2014 Jeff Kramer Mystic Tie Award for her creation of the top of a story from a farcical premise. The set-up, by 2013 winner Samantha Bennett, Pittsburgh-based columnist, was as follows:…
Columnists Drone On 2014 Sitting Duck Winner
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Drones — no, not the ones in Congress but the unmanned ones that fly around — have won this year’s Sitting Duck Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The award is given each year to a person or subject that represents easy pickings for columnists on slow news days. The…
2014 Slate of Candidates
A nominating committee — Mike Leonard and Ben Pollock with Bill Tammeus chairing — has confirmed the following candidates for two-year terms to the board of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. President — Jerry Zezima. Jerry, currently vice president, is a syndicated humor columnist based at The Stamford Advocate in Connecticut. Vice President —…
Virginian Receives Columnists’ 2014 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award
A veteran Virginia journalist who has been called “the oppressed people’s correspondent” has been named the 2014 recipient of the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award. Michael Paul Williams, metro columnist and reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, will be honored at a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol on Friday, June 27, during the annual conference of the…
2014 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award Taking Nominations
Nominations are being accepted for the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, presented annually by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists to recognize a writer whose work has positively affected readers’ lives and produced tangible humanitarian benefits. Click on these links for a history of the award and an annotated list of winners with biographies may be…
Your Pick: Top Columns of 2013?
John Avlon again is asking his fellow NSNC members for their choices of best columns posted or published in 2013. John will compile the list — besides the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, he is combing social media as well as polling others, in addition to his own picks — and run it at year…
Columnists Expose ‘Privacy’ As Sitting Duck
HARTFORD, Conn. — The National Society of Newspaper Columnists on Sunday gave its annual Sitting Duck Award to “privacy,” but, thanks to the National Security Agency and government data mining, America almost certainly already knows that. The award goes each year to a person or subject that provides columnists with an easy topic to write…
2013-15 Slate of Officers Proposed
Columnists and bloggers: Get ready for a rollicking time, as two top humorists — Jerry Zezima and Bill Ervolino — have accepted nominations to run for top spots at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The NSNC board has accepted a slate of candidates for two-year terms plus a candidate to serve one year, due…
Newspaper Honors Late NSNC President
Bombeck Blog Seeks Contributors
Teri Rizvi, founder of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, writes: Ahoy, writers! Tim Bete, former EBWW director and author of Guide to Pirate Parenting, is one funny guy. If you missed his laugh-filled, insightful workshop, “How I Converted 7,000 Hours of Work into $10 Hard Cash and Then Turned a Single Stupid Idea Into $37,000,”…