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

Humor: The reality of airwaves

By Robert Hankins, NSNC Member The Record (Orange, Texas) I always hear doctors and nurses say Hollywood can’t get it right on medical dramas in movies and television shows; lawyers tell me the same thing. I myself have noticed this over the years about the newspaper business. So I’ve compiled this list concerning Tinseltown’s version…

The 2010 Winning Contest Columns

General Interest Greater than 100,000 Circulation Tom Rademacher, The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press – First Place  Death Sentence: Sex-offender law pushed homeless man out of shelters, into cold – Teen dispenses fresh smiles  – 2 families grieve as tragedies strike — Norris Burkes, Gannett New Service – Second Place Tears and near beer honor a fallen patriot…

Book on Ohio River republished

Towboat on the Ohio

After a Decade, Ohio River Book Back in Print    HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The University Press of Kentucky has republished TOWBOAT ON THE OHIO, a book by James E. Casto. Originally published in 1995, the book has been out of print and unavailable for the past 10 years.   To get a close, personal look at…

NSNC & Members in the News

The July 2010 Columnists Conference at Indiana University, Bloomington. Reports on speakers, contests, field trips etc. are on this page. We welcome more, via the contact form. How Newspaper Columnists Learn About Sex Laurence Cohen & Gina Barreca | Courant.com …when you see all the little kids tweeting and texting and Internet-involved, they’re keeping detailed…

Destination Detroit

Before columns are written and published, before suitcases are unpacked, before the adrenalin  quits pumping from the fabulous Bloomington Conference, Brian O’Connor, newly elected Conference Chair, is already beginning to make plans for us to visit his exciting city in 2011. He has big shoes to fill after Mike Leonard, but appears to be up to the challenge.…

Judges’ Comments 2010 Column Contest

Limestone Man

Following are comments the judges made on the entries of the first-place winners of the 2010 Column Contest of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Here is the full list of winners. General Interest Greater than 100,000 Circulation, Tom Rademacher, The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press: “There’s a feeling, you get when you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t…