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
Below you’ll not only find the winners but the winner’s winning columns.
By Cassie McClureNSNC Executive Director You can blame bad salsa. I do. That’s how my column-writing history started. I had already been doing food reviews steadily for a few years when a perturbed restaurant owner came into the newsroom to complain about my commentary on his watery salsa. Unfortunately for him, I was, and am,…
Curtis HoneycuttNSNC Treasurer and Conference Committee I can’t begin to explain how much the NSNC has meant to me over the past three years. I met many of you word warriors in Cincinnati in 2018, back when it was possible to rub shoulders with other humans. In 2019, many of us spent a weekend in…
By Rebecca RegnierNSNC Member There’s no question social media can be confusing. Just when you figure out one platform, it changes, or another emerges. Should I be on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat? The landscape is littered with the bodies of dead social media platforms. Watch out. You just stepped in a pile of MySpace! But the…
By Suzette Martinez StandringDirector Emeritus Newsroom reporters and columnists may see themselves when NSNC Member and metro columnist Tony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will share how paying attention, listening, and strong storytelling led to a series of columns that won him the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He will be a featured speaker…
David Maraniss – the two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and award-winning biographer talked to NSNC Communications Director Bonnie Jean Feldkamp about his writing process.
Save the Date NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest Virtual Awards Ceremony – July 23, 2026 at 7 p.m. EST Mark your calendar for the 2026 NSNC Virtual Awards Ceremony, which will be held on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. EST. Winners will be announced at an online celebration on July 23 at 7 p.m. EST.…
NSNC 2026 Columnist Contest Deadline Extended – Enter by May 1 National Society of Newspaper Columnists Annual Column Contest Deadline Extended – Contest Closes: May 1, 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…
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.
