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!

My Subconscious Has Been Loitering in the Greeting Card Aisle

 By Rima Tessman http://rimarama.blogspot.com  At a writers’ workshop I attended in April, there was one session advertised in the brochure as an opportunity to mine one’s subconscious mind for writing material using relaxation techniques and guided imagery. That’s code for “hypnosis” if I ever saw it, so naturally I signed myself right up. If there’s…

Lieber Flips… pancakes for charity

Pancake breakfast raises funds for charity

Dave Lieber, whose Summer Santa charity helped him win the 2002 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, reports the organization recently raised $5,000 at a pancake breakfast.    Lieber, “Watchdog” columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, adds:  “We got tied into a TV pilot project with Pat Summerall (a longtime SS donor)…”   Summerall, a former football…

Humor Columnist Pens New Book

The Problem with Being Perfect

A Humorous Look at Asian Culture for Asian Heritage Month  SAN DIEGO, Calif. – In light of Asian Heritage Month in May, nationally syndicated humor columnist Wayne Chan has released The Problem With Being Perfect: From The United Federation of Asian Perfect-ness (published by AuthorHouse). This book is a collection of popular columns Chan has…

Bruce Cameron has gone to the dogs

Why the Internet will never completely replace the newspaper

Tell Your Pooch About Bruce Cameron’s Latest Promotion   Best-selling author W. Bruce Cameron has switched from writing about his daughters and has gone to the dogs.  And he’s come up with a novel idea to promote his new novel, “A Dog’s Purpose.”  Here’s his pitch:  “If you like dogs, I have something really fun…

Why you should apply to become a columnist next year

Keyboard

By Kevin Duvall, Student Columnist, The Daily Athenaeum West Virginia University official student newspaper This will probably be the last column I ever write for The Daily Athenaeum, as I am graduating this summer and am uncertain of where or when I will attend graduate school. Since I’m a Monday regular, I had the last…

Twenty Years of Walley (seems longer)

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of writing a column for the Belleville, Ill. News-Democrat, Wally Spiers interviewed himself  on video for the newspaper’s website.  “Silly, but fun,” he said. *   *   * So… we were wondering… what other great events happened 20 years ago? The first McDonald’s opened in Moscow, Russia Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner…