NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest - Now Open

Sunshine Week March 15-21, 2026

Consider a Gift to the NSNC Education Foundation

Join NSNC and Reap the Benefits!

NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest - Now Open

Contest submissions now open! 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.

Sunshine Week March 15-21, 2026

We’re counting down to #SunshineWeek 2026, March 15-21. Together, we champion #OpenRecords and #OpenGovernment nationwide March 15-21. #FOIA #transparency. Free resources: sunshineweek.org

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

Join NSNC and Reap the Benefits!

We are excited for What’s in-store for NSNC members this year. We are gearing up to launch the NSNC Annual Columnist Contest on January 15, so you’ll want to be sure your membership is up-to-date. Also, if you have ideas, suggestions, etc., please share them with our President Meredith Cummings at meredithcummings@gmail.com or Executive Director Ginny McCabe at nsncdirector@gmail.com. Thank you for your support of NSNC!

In the April newsletter

Another name has been added to the list of columnists being honored at the 35th annual NSNC Conference, and it’s a familiar name to those who have attended past conferences … or read his columns … or his books. Conference Chair Brian O’Connor is still adding more reasons to register for the big to-do in…

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Self-Promotion as an Act of Generosity

Columnists’ Academy Self-Promotion as an Act of Generosity By Man Martin, Atlanta, Georgia When authors see their novel in print from a big publishing house, they often naively believe that the publicist is going to make sure it rises to the top of the best seller list, lands in the hands of Oprah, and is…

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Philadelphia Columnist Has New Book

Philadelphia columnist James Smart’s unusual new novel, “Adonijah Hill’s Journal,” is the true-to-history diary of a fictional reporter for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in 1876. In the heavily researched “diary,” Jim recreates the days when journalists wrote by hand, and covered the city before there were telephones and autos. The fictitious Hill covers crime, fires…

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New Blogs to Check Out

A number of people have let us know about new blogs that we are invited to visit. Charles Davis, University of Missouri Associate Professor, has a site featuring news and tips on Freedom of Information, something all journalists are interested in. NSNC member Susan Young has a new blog offering advice on elder issues, and…

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Detroit Auto Critic Back at the Wheel!

That sound of tires screeching that you hear is Scott Burgess, Detorit News auto critic, laying rubber as he returns to his old job. Burgess quit March 14 when the editors asked him to “soften” a column that was highly critical of the hot-shot Chrysler 200. Apparently, garaging the column not what the Detroit News…

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OED says OMG, FYI, LOL OK

If you know what the title of this article means, you are probably now in the majority of English language users. Yes, these abbreviations, formerly the property of young people sending text messages, are now considered actual words. Who says, you say? Oxford English Dictionary, or OED, as they define themselves in their own dictionary.…

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