NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest - Deadline Extended to May 1

Consider a Gift to the NSNC Education Foundation

NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest - Deadline Extended to May 1

Contest submissions will be accepted through May 1! We are accepting entries from columnists, bloggers, and serial essayists  for our 2026 Annual Columnist Contest (for work published in 2025). We will accept entries from columnists, bloggers, and serial essayists published in 2025.  Everyone is welcome to submit. You don’t have to be an NSNC member.

Consider a Gift to the NSNC Education Foundation

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists Education Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable organization [501(c)3] devoted to the education and training of new and experienced columnists everywhere. Donate here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/NSNCEdFnd

Hamill, Crouch and Avlon: Deadline Artists

New York City’s NY1 cable channel on Tuesday, Sept. 27, broadcast a roundtable on NSNC member John Avlon’s new anthology Deadline Artists. It was moderated by Avlon’s co-editor Errol Louis, who works for NY1 as host of Inside City Hall. At the table were Louis, Avlon, Stanley Crouch and Pete Hamill. Hamill is the 2005…

What do I “get” from joining NSNC?

A prospective member asked, “What do I get for my $50 if I join NSNC?”  NSNC President Ben Pollock tackled the question and his spontaneous, off-the-cuff answer was so sensible that we decided to share it for the benefit of others who might wonder.  President Pollock said: This is an old, hard-to-explain deal, and we consider…

NSNC Honored at Indiana University

Ernie Pyle’s Distinguished Alumni Award was awarded last weekend by the Indiana University School of Journalism, which was celebrating its centennial. The university created a Hall of Fame with 15 inductees, 10 posthumous and five living. Since Ernie has no living relatives, they asked Mike Leonard to accept on behalf of the National Society of Newspaper…

iPad App to feature Herb Caen’s Best Columns

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Herb Caen will  be showcased in multimedia presentations for Apple iPad users, according to MarketWire.  Caen’s classic stories will be narrated by some of his closest friends and video will include vintage photos and film footage of San Francisco and the Bay Area notables that Caen wrote about…

President’s Message

The Room in the Elephant By Ben S. Pollock President National Society of Newspaper Columnists The board of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists has been cleaning up after the party in Detroit. While washing glasses and emptying the trash, we share the usual mix of gleeful recollection of anecdotes and recriminations about disasters that…

Suzette Standring in Humor Collection

Milton (MA) – Writer Suzette Martinez Standring is published in a book of stories about those embarrassing “comedy-of-error” moments that make us all human.  “Mug of Woe: Tales to Make You Realize Your Life is Awesome” (Amazon Digital Services, $5.99 on Kindle, 223 pages, July 2011) features essays from over forty humorists and stand-up comedians…