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!

Do You Suck?

By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist  Are you an awful columnist? Writer Hamilton Nolan says you are. He’s sure of it. In a piece on Fusion called “It is humanly impossible to be a good newspaper columnist,”, he writes that being a regular columnist “is one of the cushiest and most coveted jobs in…

All Hail the Queen of the West! Cincinnati to Host #NSNC18

By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President Registration is now open. Register HERE. You may have recently unpacked from our wildly successful #NSNC17 conference in Manchester, New Hampshire, but mark your calendars again, because you’ll be traveling to the Midwest next spring! In a unanimous vote on the final day of our June conference, NSNC’s general…

Five Years Later, Gail Collins Speaks About Her 2012 Lifetime Honor

This is the 20th in a series of articles about winners of the NSNC’s annual Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist Five years after receiving the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award at our 2012 conference in Macon, Georgia, how does Gail Collins feel about that honor? “Well, the plaque is standing…

Turning Quirks Into Columns: Finding Your Niche

The Art of Column Writing By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp Communications Director For every special interest or hobby, there are niche publications that cover it. As writers, we have the ability to take our interests from activity to the page. Our hobbies, our lifestyles, and our day trades are all mined for material. This is where…

Maureen Dowd Accepts Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award

    On Saturday, June 10, 2017 Maureen Dowd of the New York Times received the 2017 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The event was part of the NSNC’s annual conference held at the Manchester Radisson in New Hampshire. Lisa Smith Molinari is the 2017 president and Mike…

Young Columnist’s Parody Wins Society’s Mystic Tie

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire, June 10, 2017 — College humor columnist Archer Parquette penned a farcical story — on deadline — to win the 2017 Jeff Kramer Mystic Tie Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Mystic Tie is one of two NSNC contests where entries are gathered and judged within the conference, this year’s…