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

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Ben Pollock

President’s Message First published in the November 2010 issue of the e-Columnist By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President “Politics make strange bedfellows” goes the quote by 19th-century newspaperman Charles Dudley Warner, and this fall it’s been columnists getting renown for jumping on the mattress. Columnists, commentators, news analysts, bloggers, interest-group hacks, cable yaks — aren’t…

In the November Newsletter

President Ben Pollock explores the various aspects of certification and the values of being a member in good standing of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Past President Suzette Martinez Standring writes about “Milking the Writing Cow.” You’ll also see what some of your colleagues are writing about and what others are doing to advance…

Bennett Leads Ghost Tours

Former President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Samantha Bennett, is one of several tour guides who will be telling scary ghost stories during walking tours of Pittsburgh this October. Sponsors believe it is a nice way to tell Pittsburgh history and ghost stories at the same time. After taking a buyout at the…

Standring Piece Takes First Place

Suzette Martinez Standring

Suzette Martinez Standring won First Place in the Unpublished Essay category in the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards competition sponsored by the Florida Writers Association. “The Height of Power: Petite Women Speak of Stature,” shares the experiences and challenges of women, 5-foot-3 and under, who successfully navigate the world at armpit level. The essay encapsulated the concept for Standring’s current…

Epperson’s “Joy Dance Party” Helps Kids

NSNC member Kelly Epperson likes to spread the joy.  The Loves Park, Ill., writer and speaker, author of 365 Days of Joy – How To Be Happy Every Single Day, also enjoys dancing, so she extended an invitation to a “Joy Dance Party” Friday, October 1, in Rockford, Ill., to help celebrate her birthday and raise money for…

Canadian Columnist Also Does Comedy

   Lori Welbourne of Kelowna, BC, has a career as both a columnist and comedy performer.  She teams with Lisa Redl, a media personality for the past five years in radio, television and web, to do comedy videos.   Lori writes a weekly column titled “On a Brighter Note”, which was first published in April 2009 in…