WebEditor

Sheila Moss, NSNC WebEditor

President’s Message

A Columnist’s Scrapbook By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President The NSNC Conference, three days out of 365, is a highlight of my year. Apparently, I mustn’t have a life. Actually, I do have a grand life, and NSNC has been a huge part of it. So there. The conventions are a blast. I have a…

New Column for Suzette Standring

Suzette Martinez Standring is now writing a humor column for The Milton Patch, “The Funny Side of the Street.” The Milton Patch is part of AOL’s national network of on-line local newspapers.  She continues to write her syndicated religion column for GateHouse News Service. Suzette also landed an agent, Rita Rosenkranz of the Rita Rosenkranz…

NSNC Members receive Awards

Congratulations to NSNC members Mary Curtis, Philip Martin, Mike Argento and Roger Ebert for being named winners in The Society for Features Journalism 23rd Annual Excellence-in-Features Writing Competition. Contest categories included general features, short features, features specialty reporting, general commentary, arts and entertainment coverage, blogging, reader engagement and multimedia storytelling. First place winners in each…

NSNC Contest Finalists Announced

It’s that time we’ve been awaiting all year: The results of the NSNC column-writing contest have been determined. The judges have pored over the entries (they may have poured over them, too, when the judging went late into the night, but if nothing spilled on the entries, we don’t ask about such things and they…

Celestine Sibley Honored

Celestine Sibley, popular Georgia columnist, continues to receive accolades in spite of her death. Sibley received the NSNC Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 shortly before her death. The Georgia Women of Achievement will induct Sibley winner into its hall of fame next week.  She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2007. Sibley was a syndicated columnist…

New Book from LA Columnist

Los Angeles columnist and NSNC member Patrick Caneday has just published his first book. Crooked Little Birdhouse: Random Thoughts on Being Human is a collection of Caneday’s “Small Wonders” columns that have appeared in the Glendale News Press and Burbank Leader. But, with the addition of a series of previously unpublished, lengthier essays, he explores…

Nat’l Award for Terek

NSNC member, Donna Terek, multi-media columnist for The Detroit News, received a national journalism award for her online column, “Donna’s Detroit.”  The Society of Professional Journalists announced Terek as one of  the recipients of the 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism. SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well- informed citizenry; works…

New Book from Michigan Member

Eileen Button’s book, The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life’s Little Delays, has been released by Thomas Nelson. In this collection of essays, Button writes about the beauty and humor of waiting for things like a place called home … a baby’s healing … a husband’s return … a mother’s acceptance … and a loved…

New York Times Touts Detroit

Seems the NSNC is not the only one re-discovering Detroit these days. No less than the New York Times is featuring travel articles about the city and how it is making a undiscovered comeback. While the rumors you heard about its decline were true, its demise has been exaggerated. And it is currently reinventing itself at an astonishing…

Writing to Heal – Suzette Martinez Standring

By Suzette Martinez Standring NSNC Past President Writing to heal.  It’s what columnists do, but perhaps many of us don’t think of it that way.  We entertain. We opine. We guide. But heal? Lifestyle or family columnists reach out to readers who often identify with the columnist’s emotions or a memory shared. To relate and…

Hey, columnists! What’s your (writing) problem?

 Do your leads lack punch? Do your kickers fall flat? Or are you having trouble with that big bunch of words that goes in the middle of your column?  Get a personalized solution to vanquish whatever writing issues vex you, whether it’s writers’ block, making deadline or just getting your editors to cooperate. Renowned writing…

Rebound in Motown – Hitsville USA

Visitors to the 2011 Detroit Conference “Rebound In Motown” will see Barry Gordy’s two-story frame house where the musical magic happened on Detroit’s West Grand Boulevard. Our private tour includes a glimpse of the famous Motown echo chamber and a studio visit where you can stand in the footsteps of Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder.…

WikiLeaks and ivory tower journalism

By Jocelyn Rousey, Staff Columnist,         The Heights, Boston College       NSNC First Place Scholarship Winner WikiLeaks is the Facebook of journalism. And I don’t mean that in a “Yay, modern technology meets journalism! Whoopee!” sort of way. Rather, WikiLeaks, the online nonprofit group that provides an anonymous medium through which disgruntled government insiders can lead…

Scholarship Winners Announced

Jocelyn Rousey of Boston College was announced as First Place winner of the NSNC Education Foundation College Student Scholarship Contest. Second Place went to Gavin Mathis, Washington State University and Third Place winner was Jillian Werthei of  UC  Berkeley. First prize is $1,000 and a trip to the Annual NSNC Conference as a guest of…

Column about Detroit

By Susan Young susandyoung@hotmail.com The Observer The city of Detroit, or as Aretha Franklin pronounces it, “Day-Twah”, gets a much undeserved bum rap and might not be your choice of vacation destinations. However, my recent visit was a pleasant, safe and educational experience. We stayed in the core of the city at a renovated historical…

President’s Message – Axis of Nice

By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President   Had a bizarre dream the other night, that World War III had started. I saw Dianne Feinstein, she having moved up from senator to secretary of state or vice president, holding a news conference. She announced the U.S. ambassador to Turkey had died in a suspicious plane crash. A…

Rochelle Riley wins Humanitarian Award

Crusading columnist Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press is the winner of the 2011 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award.  She will receive the prestigious award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists at the organization’s annual conference, which is being held in Detroit June 23-26. Riley, who writes commentary on social, political and cultural…