Category: Newsletter

Selected articles from the NSNC newsletter; only members get the entire contents of the monthly newsletter

The 2019 Annual NSNC Column Writing Contest Is Open!

Are you excited? Read the rules , gather your best columns, and enter! Dallas Morning News’ Watchdog Dave Lieber returns to emcee the 2019 awards event. It is the “Oscars of column writing” and the grand finale of the NSNC’s annual conference happening this year in Buffalo, New York, June 20-23, 2019 . See this…

A Front-Row Seat to “The Oscars of Column Writing”

you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist A good awards banquet is not only about award winners but also about the spirit of the organization. Our 2018 awards banquet captured the strong playful spirit of our group along with many surprises. From a potential presidential candidate in the audience (Ohio Sen. Sherrod…

“Did you know your video is sideways?”

you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist A media expert I know suggested to me that columnists such as you and I ought to go on Facebook Live and read our work aloud. How boring. But that night, I went home, turned on blue lights in my backyard, and launched the “Sunday…

My Exceptionally Warm Welcome From the NSNC

Donate Now By Chandra Bozelko NSNC Vice President I found NSNC’s website when I was searching for information about syndication, back in early 2016. I noticed they had a contest going on and I was interested to see how I would do. I joined and entered without expectation. Then I received an email from Cathy…

‘The Day I Became a Columnist Was One of the Happiest of My Life’: a Q&A With 2019 Pyle Recipient Kathleen Parker

By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist Our 2019 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award winner is…Kathleen Parker! She’ll receive the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ highest honor at the June 20-23 NSNC conference in Buffalo, New York. Ms. Parker is a widely syndicated columnist who previously won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, among other awards. She’s…

Are You a Jerk?

By Chris Carosa NSNC President I admit it. I’m not enough of a jerk. I’m guessing that explains why I’m not as successful as I could be. Do you feel the same way about yourself and your own career? Here’s what I mean: At a recent journalism conference, I listened to a very dynamic speaker.…

Compelled and Propelled by the NSNC

By Curtis Honeycutt NSNC Member Earlier this year I was looking for some column advice when I stumbled into Suzette’s path. I didn’t realize she literally wrote the book on it. Not only that, I wasn’t aware of the existence of the NSNC. Suzette encouraged me to join the Columnist Clubhouse group on Facebook and…

Glorious Past, Prosperous Future

By Chris Carosa NSNC President Close your eyes for a moment and think back to that time when you first decided to become a columnist, to become a writer. Imagine the dreams you had right then. They started without clarity, a fuzzy mist of hope, angst, and maybe, if we were lucky, a touch of…

My Top 10 Columnist Books. Have You Read Them?

You, the Columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist My kid brother visited recently and gasped when he saw my home office library. Hundreds of journalism books. Biographies of newspaper legends. Many columnist collections. “Get rid of them,” he said. “Why?” “Cause when you die it’s a pain to handle this. I had to…

Astounding Numbers

By James A. Haught NSNC Member I’ve been a newspaperman for 67 years.  I began in 1951 as a teenage hot-lead printer trainee at West Virginia’s Charleston Daily Mail.  I developed a yen to be a news reporter, so I volunteered to work without pay in the Daily Mail newsroom on my days off from…

It’s Not What I Think That Matters…

By Chris Carosa NSNC President …It’s what you think. You folks are fun. That’s what really impresses me about this group. The best job in the world is the job you have fun doing. That’s us. (And not just because we happen to have a cornucopia of humorists!) Alas, fun is great, but as many…

Survey Shows Members Zestfully Agree Cincinnati Conference a Major Success

NSNC Shuffles Off to Buffalo in 2019 Riding Huge Wave of Enthusiasm President’s Message By Chris Carosa NSNC President No sooner had the last bit of swag been packed up from our sold-out June 7-10 Cincinnati Conference then your tireless leadership issued forth a survey asking attendees what they liked most and what they would…

Time for Social Media?

At the NSNC conference in Cincinnati, I taught the “Facebook for Writers” session. At the end of it, someone asked, “How much time do you spend on social media?” I had to think about that for a minute. I spend a lot of time on social media but only because it’s a big part of…

Mike Leonard, NSNC 2018 Legacy Award Recipient

By Suzette Standring NSNC Executive Director No one does it better than Mike Leonard, the longest-serving member of the NSNC. For selfless leadership over the past 33 years, he receives the 2018 NSNC Legacy Award. And he started just like you. In 1985, Mike wrote his first general-interest column with the daily Herald-Times in Bloomington,…

My Life in Words

By Chris Carosa NSNC President Five-hundred words. That’s what Bonnie told me. “For your first President’s Letter, introduce yourself,” she said. “How many words?” I countered, like a schoolboy trying to game the homework assignment. “Five-hundred,” came the response. “Well,” I exhaled, “that is 200 more than Leonidas had men.” So, in the spirit of…

NSNC Statement on Capital Gazette shooting

Fellow Columnists: The National Society of Newspaper Columnists wishes to express its heartfelt sympathies and condolences to all those touched by yesterday’s tragic events in Annapolis. We continue to recognize the uncommon bravery exhibited by columnists and all journalists who regularly place their names on articles, columns, and mastheads for all to see. The tragic…

Understanding Gender-inclusive Pronouns

By Curtis Honeycutt NSNC Member June is LGBT Pride Month, commemorating the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. Since then, the U.S. cultural understanding of LGBT rights has progressed considerably, although we’ve still got a long way to go (which is akin to saying hammerhead sharks have more to learn about rules of the road before they’ll be…