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

What I Don’t Know Could Fill a Column

Wall display of cuckoo clocks

President’s Message This piece was originally published in November 2013 edition of The Columnist, the members’ newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. By Eric Heyl President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Brace yourselves. The information I’m about to share will shock some of you. I don’t know everything. I’m sure you thought that…

D.C. Conference Hotel Sets Online Reservations

Washington Plaza Hotel

This piece was originally published in November 2013 edition of The Columnist, the members’ newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The site of the 2014 conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the Washington Plaza Hotel, has created an Internet reservations link for us. Click on this link to its page to…

Free Verse Isn’t Necessarily Free, Either

This Month’s Daily Diary This piece was originally published in November 2013 edition of The Columnist, the members’ newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. By Ben S. Pollock NSNC Director of Media 2010-12 NSNC president Slaves of the Internet, Unite!” Huh? A late October op-ed column in The New York Times by the…

The November Newsletter Has Been Delivered

Attention, members of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the November 2013 edition of The Columnist newsletter is waiting for you in your emailbox (the address on file at NSNC HQ). Here’s the news: Conference Hotel Sets Online Reservations – we have a hot link to the Washington Plaza’s great $149 rate for next June…

Rubles Won’t Be a Problem for Columnists

Washington Plaza Hotel

President’s Message By Eric Heyl President National Society of Newspaper Columnists My concern for your jewelry ultimately made it an easy call. I’m sure that after seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin step one of his Russian presidential toes into the waters of column writing, many of you were wondering: Would he be invited to speak…

Stay Dogged for the Underdog

"The Art of the Heist" by Myles J. Connor Jr.

Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring 2004-06 President National Society of Newspaper Columnists I like the underdog. Recently, I was responsible for featuring notorious art thief Myles J. Connor Jr., age 69, at a rare public appearance that took place in Milton, Mass. Understandably, a powerful aversion to his having a public platform…