NSNC to Recognize 2026 Annual Columnist Contest Winners

Join or Renew Your NSNC Membership

Consider a Gift to the NSNC Education Foundation

NSNC to Recognize 2026 Annual Columnist Contest Winners

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) President and Board of Directors are pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Annual Columnist Contest at an online awards celebration on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. EST. If you would like to join us for the awards ceremony, email nsncdirector@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

Join or Renew Your NSNC Membership

Welcome! Whether you write for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, trade journals or you create a podcast or write digital content, or you manage your own blog … whether you’re on staff, a freelancer, syndicated, self-syndicated or independent, if you write opinion or provide commentary, we invite you to join the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Join us at https://www.columnists.com/join-or-renew-membership/.

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

Filling the Tipple Jar

Wall display of cuckoo clocks

President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists My best New Year’s resolution was made many New Years ago, a year after my worst New Year’s resolution, which was to develop a taste for Scotch. Looking for a beverage that would mark me as smooth, suave and sophisticated in restaurants (which did…

Resolved: Batter Up

you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m feeling good. Not because of the spirits but because I’ve had a wonderful year. One of my best ever at a newspaper. Hey, that last column I wrote. Wow. Loved it. Who wouldn’t? I wonder if it got any public…

Columnists Cover ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Attack

NSNC is honored to stand among these journalism organizations. Graphic courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Journalists, American ones at least, keep a rope line between reportage and commentary, and by extension between photojournalism and illustration. U.S. discussions on news concentrate on the presentation of factual material. If we accept, though, that journalism is inclusive in this continuum — and the major media practitioner societies show this by endorsing the “Je…

NSNC Condemns ‘Hebdo’ Attack

“A journalist’s most important and powerful tools are words, but even they are inadequate in expressing the horror we at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists feel about the attack on the staff of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. It also was an attack on freedom — and free speech — everywhere. “Thomas Jefferson said,…

2015 Columnist Scholarship Extended to April 1

Click to open an 8 1/2 by 11 PDF of the poster.

Jeff Zaslow College Columnist Award Contest Each year, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists Education Foundation sponsors a unique scholarship for student columnists. College writers are encouraged to enter our 17th annual contest for collegiate newspaper columnists. The winner receives a $1,000 scholarship. Second- and third-place finalists receive certificates of achievement. In addition, the winner…

2015 Column Contest Extended to April 1!

The annual contest of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists is open! The deadline this year is: Sunday, March 15, midnight Pacific Has been extended to midnight Pacific on Wednesday, April 1! Besides fame, winners and finalists get a token of fortune: $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. Finalists and…