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

Gene Weingarten: Funny, Serious, and a Pyle Winner

Gene Weingarten

This is the 22nd in a series of articles about winners of the NSNC’s annual Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist It’s fitting that Gene Weingarten received our 2014 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award just a year after Dave Barry won the 2013 Pyle prize. They’re both humorists (though Weingarten is…

2018 NSNC CINCINNATI CONFERENCE SITE SELECTED

By Suzette Martinez Standring Next year, the City of Seven Hills will be easy on our bills! The NSNC is happy to announce that our 2018 conference will be held at the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center at the University of Cincinnati, 151 Goodman Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45219.  Mark your calendars for Thursday-Sunday, June 7-10, 2018. The special…

Ask Alex: Free Trial and Error

DEAR ALEX, My column runs in 24 newspapers across eight states; eleven are weekly and the others run periodically. Of those, only eight are paying. In my desire to grow my base, I offered my column to other papers at no cost. Without thinking, I did not put a time limit on that period of…

Vacationing on Deadline: How NSNC’s Columnists Do It

By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President As columnists who must meet strict deadlines, we know that one of the best ways to combat burnout is to take a vacation. It’s good for us to release ourselves from the looming pressures of our next writing assignments for a week or two. But let’s be honest –…

A Brief Q&A (Quips & Amusement) With 2013 Pyle Winner Dave Barry

Dave Barry

This is the 21th in a series of articles about winners of the NSNC’s annual Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist Four years after Dave Barry won our 2013 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award, I thought I’d do a brief email Q&A with the renowned humorist. Of course, in this case,…

Manchester, NH, Conference Highlights

By Robert L. Haught With the umpire’s cry of “Play Ball!”, writers from 24 states unofficially opened the NSNC’s 41st annual conference with a play night. They came from coast to coast and border to border to gather in Manchester, NH, for a long weekend of fun, fellowship, and learning. Thursday offered a perfect evening for…