Category: Blog / Column

News & discussion on columns as blogs, blogs as columns

Winner, winner. Chicken dinner.

Okay, well you don’t actually get a chicken dinner, but you do get some bragging rights. Here’s a breakdown of all our amazing winners in the 2022 Columnist Contest (for works created in 2021): Editorial Cartoon First Place – Sage Stossel, The Boston Globe Social Justice First Place – John W. Fountain, Chicago Sun-TimesSecond Place…

To go or not to go? That is the question.

by Daniela Gitlin, MD  The NSNC conference is scheduled to happen live June 9-12, 2022 at the Doubletree by Hilton, Birmingham Perimeter Park in Alabama. You, like me, might be of two minds about attending. You might have various COVID-related concerns. But also, you might really, really want to go.  Do you crave contact, with real people, in real-time,…

2021 Is Done

by John Branning 2021 is done – it won’t be called the greatest year.Covid we could not outrun, with Omicron the latest fear. Sports went on despite the risk; tried protocols to make it safe.Jeffrey Epstein’s odalisque got jail time for procuring naifs. Trump impeached a second time, because of insurrectionists.NFTs arrive and I’m confused:…

The Heart and Art Expands

During her writing days, Mom won NSNC awards twice, at least, for her much-loved, long-running humor column “Coffee Break” which appeared weekly in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Column Writing Is Your Superpower to Enact Change in Your Community

By NSNC President Tony Norman and NSNC Communications Director Bonnie Jean Feldkamp   Columns, as opposed to explanatory news stories, are uniquely positioned in the journalistic ecosystem to get things done. Unlike our just-the-facts reporter counterparts, we columnists get to directly call out our elected officials and community leaders, hold them to account, and ask for…

Now Is the Time for You to Be a Leader

By Dave LieberThe Dallas Morning News City mayors, county leaders, state governors, and presidents are expected to show leadership in times of crisis. But I would argue that now is the time for columnists and bloggers to do the same. We learned after 9/11 what a difference one great column can make for readers. Remember…

The Secret Life of a Would-Be Novelist

(Damn You, Noxious Virus, Causing Me More Work When You Know How I Hate to Put Off Novel Writing) By Pam J. HechtNSNC Member I have a problem that will likely prevent me from finishing this column, which is also, frankly, a flagrant cry for help. In fact, I will probably ask you to finish…

Value Your Work. Value Your Industry

A rebuttal to James Haught’s article ‘Low-Pay Writing’ By Marianne Willburn NSNC Member A bottle of “Writers’ Tears” Irish whiskey has sat unmolested on my desk since it was given to me ten months ago by a friend at Christmas. Though he handed it over insisting that a garden columnist had no need of such a…

Three Things to Consider Before Becoming a Columnist

By Chris Carosa NSNC President In July, shortly after our wildly successful annual conference in Buffalo, Michael Marrer? posted this in our private member-only Columnist Clubhouse Facebook page: CURRENT STATE OF NEW SYNDICATION? Wanting to know in advance if I am engaging in a fool’s errand and/or just beating my head against a wall, given…

What Qualifies as Honorable Mention?

As we await the results of the 2019 annual column-writing contest, NSNC member Annette Januzzi Wick reflects on her 2018 honorable mention. By Annette Januzzi Wick NSNC Member In the hotel ballroom in Cincinnati, Dave Lieber, master of ceremonies at the National Society for Newspaper Columnists’ annual banquet, stood at the podium and announced the…

April 18: A Day to Celebrate Columnists and Their Readers

By M.C. Coolidge April 18 is National Columnists Day, and whether you love ’em, hate ’em, or love to hate ’em — newspaper columnists sure can make reading the paper a lot more fun. We all need to stay informed with hard news, but honestly, there’s only so much Brexit and brouhaha about the economy…