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.
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
MC Coolidge had just won a Florida Press Association award for column writing when less than a week later she learned that she was a finalist in the blogging category of Sarasota Magazine’s “The Best of 2009 Readers’ Poll.” Her reaction: “kind of stunned and more than a little honored.” “As an independent…
Frank Kaiser is delighted but overwhelmed at the response to his offer to print selected columns on his “Suddenly Senior” Web site. The longtime NSNC member from Florida said he received about 30 columns following a notice in the March newsletter inviting the submission of columns that would appeal to his readers. The nationally syndicated…
Samantha Bennett NSNC President I’m taking the buyout. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for which I’ve worked for 14 years and written my column for a decade, offered buyouts to the entire staff in late December, with a get-out-if-you’re-going deadline of New Year’s Eve. Happy holidays. I weighed my joblessness in a vile economy…
By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram www.yankeecowboy.com There’s a recession in the U.S. economy, but a depression in the newspaper business. Not a financial depression, but a mental one. Everybody in the newsroom and in the executive suites is giving up. Worse, nobody in the business is standing up on a chair…
By Dave Lieber, Fort Worth Star Telegram I am insecure about my life as columnist. I worry about my next column, my next error. I worry about repeating myself. I fear the next time my boss gets irritated with me. My hate mail adds fuel to the fire, as does my lack…
The Story of the G.I. Joe Action Figure By Tom Henderson, Columnist You might have noticed a minor journalistic controversy a few years back after the great columnist Ernie Pyle was turned into a G.I. Joe doll (excuse me, action figure). Purists were peeved. Ernie was rolling about his grave, they said. A humble man…
National Society of Newspaper Columnists Annual Column Contest Last Call to Enter! Closes: April 17, 2026 11:59 p.m. (EST) For Registration & General Guidelines visit: nsnc.submittable.com/submit Email Joanne Browkaw, contest chair, with any questions at joannebrokaw@gmail.com. “The NSNC Annual Columnist Contest gives columnists a chance to win awards for their submissions and be acknowledged by their peers.”…
Christine Heinrichs recently published a significant story that is raising awareness of elephant seals. Here is a link to the story: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/avian-flu-strikes-californias-northern-elephant-seals-area-quarantined/ Heinrichs has published other important works about elephant seals. Her articles and books are featured at www.christineheinrichs.com.
Kathy Eliscu’s story, “A Grandma Finds a Little Mission in Life,” is featured in the new “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Being Grandma” edition, which hit bookstores on March 10. She will host signings at various events throughout the Northeast this spring. This is the second time Kathy’s work has been featured in the “Chicken Soup for…
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists 2026 Annual Columnist Contest is open and accepting entries through April 17. “We are accepting entries from columnists, bloggers, and serial essayists for work published in 2025. Everyone is welcome to submit. You don’t have to be an NSNC member to enter. However, you can save on entry fees…
