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!

Chronicle Columnist Was Commended in California

This is the 17th in a series of articles about recipients of the NSNC’s annual Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. By Dave Astor Archivist National Society of Newspaper Columnists San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll didn’t leave California to receive the NSNC’s Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award — and he also didn’t leave his Chronicle…

We’re In Big Trouble

By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist Now for the first time, I really feel it. I can touch it. It’s happening all around.   The death of a competent, successful free press. The spiral downward for newspapers and TV news.   We are going down and going down fast.   It’s a combination: the smartphone, our own…

Find Your Literary Agent at NSNC 2017

Have you written a book? We have agents eager to hear your pitches. Here’s how it works First, find out how pitches and the types of books compel professional representation from the NSNC’s first-ever Literary Agents/Publishers’ Panel on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at the NSNC annual conference at the Manchester Radisson in NH.  Direct questions…

Annual Contest Deadline Extended

by Cathy Turney Column Contest Chair The cavemen had it right– their column contests were conducted on clay tablets. Technology is great…when it works. Well, we’ve had some challenges this year, and so we’re extended the deadline for the 2017 NSNC Column Contest to Friday, March 31. If you find the online submission method intimidating, here’s…

Learn to Earn More at #NSNC17

President’s Message By Lisa Smith Molinari President National Society of Newspaper Columnists You open the mailbox, and there it is. The envelope is so thin, it seems almost empty. But you know exactly what’s inside. You run a fingernail under the sealed edge, pinch the contents with thumb and forefinger, and hold the precious instrument…

Ellen Goodman ‘Globe’-trotted to Column Fame

This is the 16th in a series of articles about recipients of the NSNC’s annual Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award. By Dave Astor Archivist National Society of Newspaper Columnists I really wanted to attend our 2008 conference in New Orleans, partly because much-admired columnist Ellen Goodman would be receiving the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award.…