Category: Advocacy

And the 2019 Columnist Contest Winners Are…

A. General Interest – Print — Publications Over 50,000 Circulation First Place Dave Lieber: The Dallas Morning News “Through a lively combination of consumer advocacy and investigative reporting, Lieber’s columns were models of suspenseful storytelling and public service.” Links to winning columns: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2018/01/19/thanks-readers-waitress-beat-auto-dealer-court-gets-surprise-lifetime https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2018/11/19/jfks-assassin-shot-husband-wants-buried Second Place Maria Panaritis: The Philadelphia Inquirer “With the persistence of…

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Buffalo Speaker Dave Lieber Adds Playwright to His Long Résumé

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist Dave Lieber will talk about TED at our annual conference, but Amon is also on his mind. When Dave speaks at our Buffalo conference June 22, the Dallas Morning News “Watchdog” columnist will tell attendees what a TED talk is, why they should do one, and how to make that…

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2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award Recipient

By Robert L. Haught Will Rogers Writers Foundation Retired Military Chaplain Norris Burkes, who writes a syndicated column that offers a hope-filled approach to everyday spirituality, is the recipient of the 2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, great grand-daughter of Will Rogers, will present the award…

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Today is World Press Freedom Day. We support your right to write.

On World Press Freedom Day, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists stands in solidarity with journalists across the globe, particularly those who risk their safety to tell the stories the public needs to know. Targeting of journalists happens here in the United States as well. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 11 journalists have…

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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…

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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…

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Who’s Talking About National Columnists Day 2019

Thank you to all columnists who took the time to write about National Columnists Day! Below are the columns penned in honor of National Columnists Day. In the social media-Julian Assange era, would Americans click ‘like’ for Ernie Pyle? By Chris Carosa Would America today embrace the next Ernie Pyle? He wasn’t a muckraker, a…

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Post a Selfie for National Columnists Day

You may remember that National Columnists Day is also when we ask you to join us in celebration with a selfie and the hashtag #IAmAColumnist. You can take a look at last year HERE. We want you to join the fun again! Plus there’s more! If you want to go beyond the selfie and pen…

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I Am a Columnist

By Paul Lander NSNC Member Confession, on National Columnists Day = I’ve wanted to hold up a sign that says “I Am a Columnist” with an arrow pointing at an actual columnist. With that in mind, I spent what appeared to be most of July in court. Actually, it was only one day; but if…

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President’s Message: Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

By Chris Carosa NSNC President In January, the Reuters Institute issued a report titled “More Important, But Less Robust? Five Things Everybody Needs to Know about the Future of Journalism.” It’s their fourth point I’d like to focus on. It states that the ongoing pressure faced by current media business models continues to weaken journalism.…

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Mary C. Curtis on Column-Writing in a Polarized Time

Mary C. Curtis

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist When Mary C. Curtis speaks at our Buffalo conference on June 22, she plans to discuss how opinion writers can approach sensitive issues – and deal with the reader reaction that follows. Ms. Curtis is the perfect person to talk about that, because her Roll Call column and other media…

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He Understands That Writing Should Be Understandable

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist When David Cay Johnston speaks June 22 at our conference in Buffalo, NY, he’ll discuss how to present complicated information to readers in an understandable way. The 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner said the importance of that can’t be overemphasized – whether the person doing the writing is a columnist, blogger,…

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Quit Stepping On Our Turf

By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC Past President The beauty of being a columnist is that I can write whatever I damn well please. Piece of cake, right? Frankly, writing columns isn’t easy. In fact, there are moments when I’d rather chew my own arm off than pen my weekly submission. But what makes column writing…

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AMON! The Ultimate Texan Gets World Premiere

Hurst, Texas: Artisan Center Theater in Hurst, the largest community theater in North Texas, is producing a world premiere play, AMON! The Ultimate Texan, written by renowned journalist, NSNC member, and longtime Texan, Dave Lieber. Lieber received the 2017 NSNC Legacy Award for his many contributions to the organization. The play honors and celebrates the…

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John Avlon Has Been a Columnist in Various Media

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist   CNN’s John Avlon will be one of the NSNC’s main speakers during our June 20-23 conference in Buffalo, NY. Avlon – who’ll keynote the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award evening on June 21 – is a senior political analyst and fill-in anchor at CNN, former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast, author…

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Ask Alex: Is Self Publishing Selling Out?

Dear Alex: So the time-honored question on the lips of a roundtable of writers extraordinaire has again raised its head – does self-publication still carry the vanity cloud? Can a “real” writer self-publish with head held high or should one hold out for traditional publication? I see the lists of books put out by many…

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