Category: Nat’l Columnists’ Day

National Columnists Day – April 18th

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…

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…

Prison Diaries Writer Finds Camaraderie at NSNC Annual Conference

By Chandra Bozelko Prison Diaries became the first regular, inmate-written byline in 2012. Consider that: with the wealth of knowledge and stories that incarcerated people have, no one gave even one of them a regular byline in a news publication until well into the 21st century. Sure, inmates published here and there, but a regular spot…

It’s Not Novel That Some Novelists Have Also Written Columns Astor

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist   Some writers have been columnists AND novelists. You’re probably aware of a few who’ve done both, while the names of others may surprise you. Let’s go alphabetically, shall we?   Iconic science-fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote or edited an astounding 500-plus books during his career, yet also found time…

‘#IAMaColumnist’: NSNC’s campaign for Columnists’ Day 2017

By Lisa Smith Molinari President National Society of Newspaper Columnists What makes one a columnist? Is it occupying a weekly space on page seven of the newspaper? Is it blogging? Is it a regular spot in the local Patch? Is it a monthly feature in a regional magazine? Is it a series of opinion pieces…

Pyle Scholar Speaks on 70th Anniversary of Death

Ernie Pyle is at center. Photo courtesy Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation

Remarks of Owen V. Johnson, Ph.D., for delivery at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the death of Ernie Pyle, near his grave at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl Crater, Hawaii, April 18, 2015. Johnson is a professor emeritus of journalism at Indiana University, which the noted war correspondent, an Indiana native, attended.…

An Important National Columnists Day – 2015

Memorial stone for Ernie Pyle, being dedicated on the 70th anniversary of his death, April 18, 2015, at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl Crater, Hawaii.

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists sets April 18 as National Columnists Day. The 2015 edition is a special one. The day was chosen because it was on April 18 that Scripps Howard war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed, shot by a Japanese sniper on a Pacific island, in 1945. That’s 70 years ago to…

The Legacy of Ernie Pyle

This column originally was published in the April 2014 edition of The Columnist, the members’ newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Editor’s Note: April 18, Friday this year, is National Columnists’ Day. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists created this holiday both for members but mainly as a flag to the world, reminding…

National Columnists’ Day 2013: Honoring Ernie Pyle

April 18, Thursday this year, is National Columnists’ Day. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists created this holiday both for members but mainly as a flag to the world, reminding everyone of the journalistic and democratic importance of columns. We chose the date that Scripps Howard columnist Ernie Pyle was shot down in 1945, covering…

Nat’l Columnists’ Day: Across Many Miles

As seen in Stars and Stripes, 4/17/12   By Terri Barnes NSNC Member and Military Wife   His was the first biography I ever read — at least the first one that had real chapters and more words than pictures. I was in the fifth grade, and I have not forgotten the story of his…

National Columnists’ Day – Another Ernie Story

By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram   No matter what crevice of Ernie Pyle’s life you look into, you find something interesting, honest and authentically American. His real name was Ernest, after all. April 18 marks the 18th annual celebration of the NSNC’s National Columnists Day, a project former NSNC President Bill Tammeus and I…

Gail Collins Named Lifetime Achievement Winner

Columnist Gail Collins of The New York Times is the winner of the 2012 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. She will receive the prestigious award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists at the organization’s annual conference, Macon, Ga., May 3-6. Gail Collins joined the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial…

Ernie Pyle’s historic site trying to rebound

A Columnists Day update: Ernie Pyle’s historic site trying to rebound: By Mike Leonard mleonard@heraldt.com Previously Published by Herald Times 4/17/2011 National Columnists Day was established for an annual April 18 observation because it marks the day that columnist Ernie Pyle was killed on an island in the South Pacific during World War II. Pyle was…

Tammeus on Detroit Radio Show

Word is out that Bill Tammeus did a great job in a 10-minute informal interview on Mitch Albom’s radio show on WJR in Detroit, where he appeared to talk about his role in the origin of National Columnists Day. Albom hosts a primarily sports talk call-in show and the transition from jock talk — and traffic reports —…

What Would Ernie Do?

Ed Grisamore, Columnist at The Telegraph (Macon, GA), 2012 Conference Chair and winner of the 2010 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, wrote this column for National Columnists’ Day. What Would Ernie Do? | Macom.com By Ed Grisamore, The Telegraph Today is National Columnists Day, a day usually reserved for newspaper columnists to write a column about…