Erma Bombeck Writing Competition - Judges
FINALIST JUDGES
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Marybeth Hicks Top selling author and motivational speaker Marybeth Hicks is the weekly culture columnist for The Washington Times. Syndicated each week to Web sites including townhall.com, jewishworldreview.com, and catholicexchange.com, her column "Then again…" explores issues and experiences that affect families and shape communities. Her parenting book, Bringing up GEEKS: How to Protect Your Kid’s Childhood in a Grow-up-too-fast World, offers encouragement for parents struggling to raise genuine, enthusiastic, empowered kids against the demands of today’s culture of cool. Her book includes a foreword by highly regarded child advocate Dr. Kimberly Thompson and has received extensive praise from leaders in media, child development and parenting. Marybeth’s first book, The Perfect World Inside My Minivan–One Mom’s Journey Through the Streets of Suburbia, was selected by the Catholic Press Association as one of the three most outstanding family books for 2006. She also is a contributor to four anthologies, The Ultimate Christmas, Amazing Grace for Survivors, Amazing Grace for Families and Amazing Grace for Mothers. Web site: www.marybethhicks.com www.bringingupgeeks.com |
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Paula Schmitt Paula Schmitt, Co-founder and Director of Mamazina Magazine, is an award-winning writer living in Vermont with her husband and five children. She has been featured in The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Herald, The Burlington Free Press, The Times Argus, Kids VT, Adopting for Tomorrow magazine, Adoption Today magazine, and in several online parenting magazines. Paula has also been quoted in American Baby magazine, Parenting magazine, Family Circle magazine, All You magazine and Real Simple magazine. Her award-winning book, Living In a Locker Room: A Mom’s Tale of Survival in a Houseful of Boys is available at your favorite online retailer and in bookstores. She launched her radio talk show for mom authors, Mom Writer's Talk Radio, November of 2005. You can read Paula’s writing and get more information about her book at her Web site paulaschmitt.com and check out her blog, What Did You Do All Day? at http://www.whatdidyoudoallday.net. |
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JUDGES
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Tracy Beckerman Tracy Beckerman, author of Rebel Without a Minivan, has been a columnist for seven years with the weekly Independent Press newspaper in New Jersey. Her column, LOST IN SUBURBIA® is also carried by The Hunterdon County Democrat, the largest paid weekly newspaper in New Jersey, as well as other NJN publishing papers. LOST IN SUBURBIA® is also carried weekly by the North Jersey Media Group, a chain of 47 newspapers in Northern New Jersey. Her column is also syndicated monthly to 390 newspapers in the Gatehouse Media chain, which reaches an audience of nearly 2.5 million readers in 23 states. Beckerman was a writer and producer in the television industry for ten years and has received numerous honors for writing including the prestigious Writer’s Guild of America award, a CLIO, an International Film and Television award, and a New York Emmy®. Tracy Beckerman is married to a very understanding guy. They have two children and live in New Jersey where she writes, does battle with woodchucks, and avoids, at all costs, driving a minivan. | 
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Brookelyn Bellinger Brookelyn Bellinger is the author of The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaskan Livin', a humor/travel book about the realities of living in Alaska. Readers learn "How to Survive Moose Attacks, Endless Winters and Life Without Indoor Plumbing", among other necessary skills for northern living. The book has a perfect five-star rating on Amazon.com! Brookelyn is a former humor columnist and her writing has appeared in national magazines and newspapers. Brookelyn is also a filmmaker and has produced several films about various Alaskan subjects. She is a big fan of Robert Benchley, Dave Barry, and of course, Erma Bombeck. Her website is www.brookelynbellinger.com. |
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Rob Bloom Rob Bloom is a comedy writer, screenwriter, copywriter, somewhat decent juggler, pro wrestling historian, former Disney character, and, perhaps most impressively, a connoisseur of all things deli. He has written for the Cartoon Network, McSweeney's, CRACKED, Fresh Yarn, Monkey Bicycle, Funny Times, National Public Radio, American Public Media, and the Travel Channel, among others. Last year, Rob’s original screenplay, "Suburban Bravery," was made into a short film produced by Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Rob is also the writer of a regular humor column, which has been praised by the Erma Bombeck Writing Institute as well as by his parents who proudly display it on their refrigerator with magnets shaped like fruit. Rob grew up in the sunny Orlando ‘burbs but now lives in Philadelphia with his wife, newborn son, and a 17 lb. Shih Tzu named Chloe. After almost five years in the northeast, he still refuses to accept the ridiculously narrow grocery store aisles, two-lane highways that are always under construction, and weather that is described by local meteorologists as "bitterly cold." Though he writes advertising copy during the day, Rob remains hopeful that he will, once again, someday hold his dream job of being a character at Disney World. He’s currently in search of representation and the perfect black and white cookie. Visit Rob online! Website: RobBloom.com Blog: RobBloom.com/blog Twitter: http://twitter.com/robbloomN |
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Kathy Bohannon Kathy Bohannon is a Christian humorist and inspirational speaker and writer. She has worked as a freelance columnist for Newnan, Georgia's Times-Herald for over 20 years and the Savannah Morning News for the past 10. Other writing jobs have included the now defunct Street Mail (possibly her favorite outside of her columns and it's not her fault it is now defunct. Really.), Circumerro, JCB Inc., Guideposts Angels on Earth, Savannah Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and at least a dozen more she cannot recall due to the onset of menopause. She is a member of the Red Hat Society, so it is understandable that among her many performances, her favorite was entertaining for the Georgia Red Hat Society's annual Jubilee. Kathy and her husband John (aka Ninja Man, and no, he doesn't know martial arts but he can fix anything and has a trophy to prove it) live in Savannah, Georgia, have two children, two in-law kids and a favorite (and only) grandson Asher, two Boston Terriers, a handful of friends and dead flowers in their yard. Kathy is currently cleaning her house, working or hanging out on Facebook while whining because she never has time to sew, knit or scrapbook. Visit Kathy's blog at www.thesewingroomandmore.blogspot.com or her Web site www.kathybohannon.com. Check back often since she doesn't really know how to make Web sites and is always changing stuff. |
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Jennifer Brown Jennifer Brown is a weekly humor columnist for The Kansas City Star, Kansas City's major metropolitan daily. She is also the Saturday Featured Blogger for Mom2MomKC, The Star's mom blog site. When not writing about serious subjects, Jennifer Brown, a two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award, is a columnist for the Kansas City Star. She lives in Missouri with her husband and three children. Hate List is her debut novel. Blog: www.JenniferBrownYA.com Web Site: www.JenniFunny.com |
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Diane Buccheri Diane Buccheri is the editing publisher of OCEAN Magazine, a one of a kind environmentally based literary journal that publishes articles, stories, essays, poems, and photography about and of the ocean. She is the former editor at The Maritime Association of the Port of New York/New Jersey, American Windsurfer Magazine, and The Hatteras Monitor. With her love of literature and photography, she also enjoys editing and designing self-published books. As a freelance writer and photographer she has lived on both coasts of the United States in the north and south and currently lives and works from the Connecticut shore and the North Carolina Outer Banks. Web Site: www.OceanMagazine.org |
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Sheila Buska Humor columnist, freelance writer and author. Judge - 2004, 2005 and 2006, Erma Bombeck Writers Competition. National Society of Newspaper Columnists: Board of Directors - Membership Chair, 2006/2007, Web Editor 2005/2006, Interim Editor, The Columnist newsletter, Spring 2005 & Summer 2005. Humor columnist and freelance writer: "Smile-breaks" - the column you'll find yourself in the middle of, is a fun, upbeat commentary on daily life that has been appearing in newspapers since 1997. "Smile-breaks" has appeared in: The Espresso, Del Mar Village Voice, San Diego County Herald News, Rancho Bernardo Sun, Rancho Santa Fe Review, The Daily Californian, Diamond Gateway Signature, Carmel Valley News, Sedona Excentric, Update, Solana Beach Sun, Hillcrest News, Del Mar Times and can also be seen at Everythingmenopause.com. Sheila thinks people worry too much and wants to bring a little fun into their lives. And she's passionate about bringing people together through laughter about their common experiences. She says it isn't so much "Don't sweat the small stuff," as it is "Enjoy the small stuff." Web Site: http://www.smile-breaks.com/ |
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Michael Campbell Michael Campbell is a regular humor columnist for Food & Spirits Magazine, where his "Dumpster" essays close every issue. His first book, Are You Going To Eat That, is a collection of 60 humor essays released in September 2009 by Prairie Moon Publishing. For fifteen years he has written for nationally-distributed entertainment newsletters Coffee Break and Facts of Life, and his off-beat observations have appeared in various issues of Reader’s Digest. His weekly humor blog, MC (http://www.mcwriting.com), reaches thousands of readers, and he was recently named Humor Writer of The Month by the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. |
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D'ette Corona What began for D’ette Corona as a freelancing job in 1999 turned into a full-time job as the Production Coordinator for Chicken Soup for the Soul in 2003. Recently named Assistant Publisher of Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC, she is proud to continue to "change the world one story at a time." Born and raised in California, D’ette received her bachelor of science in business management in 1994. After graduation, she worked for a handful of different companies, but nothing has been as rewarding as her career with Chicken Soup for the Soul. |
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Marilee Crocker Who the heck is Marilee Crocker? Since 1988, I’ve been a freelance journalist, writer and editor, specializing in travel, the travel industry and small business. My biz@home column exploring the realities, rewards and occasional indignities of running a home-based business runs twice monthly in the Sunday Cape Cod Times, my hometown paper. The syndicated column is the inspiration for my biz@home blog. I also partner with small businesses to develop marketing create copy that delivers their message with clarity and impact. |
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Kelly Epperson Kelly Epperson, author of When Life Stinks, It’s Time to Wash the Gym Clothes and 365 Days of Joy, began writing her weekly humor column in 2001 for the Pecatonica Gazette (Rock Valley Publishing), and now is read nationally via Gatehouse Media. Writing from Loves Park (city with a heart), Illinois, Kelly is dubbed the Writer/Speaker/Listener and also has the moniker of Joy Fairy. The former IRS agent teaches audiences and workshoppers to find joy in the everyday and has been invited to take her joy programs to Italy in 2011. She publishes a free weekly ezine, Find Your Joy, (sign up at www.kellyepperson.com) and is launching an international Joy Ambassadors Movement. And for inquiring minds, although wearing a tiara makes her feel like Wonder Woman, it does not make her two teenage sons treat her like a queen or see her as a super hero. But it does make driving around town in her smartcar that much more fun. |
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Judy Gruen Judy Gruen, author of the book, The Women's Daily Irony Supplement, is a regular humor columnist for aish.com, mommasaid.net, Jewish Life magazine, and podcasts her humor on ouradio.org. Her essays and features have appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and many other publications. She is also a senior editor for Accepted.com. She has been quoted extensively in the media, including in Better Homes & Gardens, the New York Times, Woman’s Day, and through the CanWest News Service (Canada). Her work has been published in five humor anthologies, and her popular email humor column, "Off My Noodle", is available by subscribing via email or a RSS delivery on her Web site. Web Site: http://judygruen.com/ |
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Ann Harth Ann Harth lives on the edge of the rainforest in northeastern Australia. She has spent her post-college years collecting smiles and scars while raising children, rescuing orphaned animals, building a house with her husband and working in various capacities with children with special needs. As a writer of various genres, Ann has been published internationally and won a number of awards for her children’s writing. She is a tutor for Cengage Education’s School of Journalism and also the assistant fiction editor for moondance.org. Ann has ghostwritten a number of books and articles on diverse subjects but her non-fiction specialties are parenting, writing and running a writing business from home. Although the nature of her writing varies, Ann’s favorite genre is the humorous essay. She likes to produce writing that triggers a belly laugh while opening minds and hearts. She is currently in the process of completing She’ll be ‘Right, a memoir that focuses on her move from a suburban street in the USA to a remote property in Australia. Web Site:www.annharth.com |
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Nettie Hartsock Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist and teacher. Her TwitterID is nettiehartsock. Her Web site is www.nettiehartsock.com. She is the author of the upcoming, "Fire Your Publicist" (BenBellaBooks) set to release in Fall 2010. Nettie works with authors from all over the world, helping them create and convey their messages to the online world. Nettie’s clients have seen millions in YouTube views, features on DailyKos, Daily Candy, NYTimes.com, MSNBC.com, The Huffington Post, BigThink.com, TrueSlant.com Entreprenuer.com, Pink Magazine, Inc.com, Allbusiness.com, The Wall Street Journal, BlogCritics and other leading online sites. |
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Eric Heyl Eric Heyl is a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. His columns appear throughout the week in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Trib PM edition. Read Eric's Columns |
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Anne Humphrey Anne L. Humphrey is the features editor for the Cape Cod Times and The Standard-Times in New Bedford, sister papers belonging to the Dow Jones Local Media Group. She is an award-winning columnist and won first-place honors in 2009 from the New England Press Association for best living section. She lives in Dartmouth, Mass., with her husband David, also a journalist, and the youngest of their five children. Her personal interests include British and Egyptian history and watching her hometown UConn Huskies play basketball. |
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Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant A stress management and humor expert, comedy writer, stand-up comic, and comedy instructor/coach. I have an M.P.H. degree which is either stands for masters of public health or mistress of public humor (and, occasionally, miles per hour, but only if I’ve had too many espressos). In lieu of actually getting a real job, I consult with organizations (and disorganizations) on how to use humor to manage stress, change, and conflict, and boost creativity, teamwork and morale. My mission, if I decide to accept it, is to help the world become healthier and more sane through laughter. Read more about Leigh Anne on her online Bio. Web Site: http://www.accidentalcomic.com/ |
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Kathleen Jun For the past 11 years, Kathleen Jun has brought a "human side to science" in producing a quarterly newsletter for 100,000 people worldwide who work in emergency medicine. She began a life in publishing as a science fiction reviewer for the South Bend Tribune. Previous writing and editing stints include public relations for a large city aquarium, publicity for a CBS affiliate TV station, technical editing for petroleum and accounting publications, newsletter editing in classical music and a heritage streetcar system, and direct mail work for colleges, a financial services firm, and a city park. She is the author of a book chapter on Dallas, Texas, for that city’s Chamber of Commerce. Currently she writes a Community Voices human-interest column for the Dallas Morning News. |
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Yvonne Linton Yvonne Linton explores the chaos and comedy of the real world in her newly-released book, What Could Go Wrong? Lessons from Living on the Edge. Whether stranded at an airport terminal or on a windsurfer at low tide, she proves any situation can be salvaged and there are many paths to success. She reminds us to laugh off what truly does not matter, and to find peace and joy in the inevitable frustrations we all face. Personal anecdotes are framed around lessons learned as a substitute teacher. Prior to teaching, Yvonne was a top sales and marketing representative for Addison-Wesley Publishing, where she tripled her quota in her first year. Sales provided great practice in not taking "no" for an answer, a useful skill when submitting writing queries or raising toddlers. After a seven-year struggle with insomnia, Yvonne turned to Erma Bombeck and other favorite authors for comic relief, then began writing for friends, nonprofit newsletters, and magazines. She is a certified Toastmaster who has found inspiration in 15 countries around the globe, with her identical twin often close behind. Yvonne grew up in Canada and Saudi Arabia, and now lives in California with her husband of 25 years and her two adopted sons. Web Site: www.yvonnelinton.com |
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Jason Love Jason Love syndicates his daily cartoon "Snapshots" to millions of readers in print and on the Internet. Credits include The Denver Post, St. Petersburg Times, Arizona Republic, Journal News, and Reader's Digest. Jason's humor column "So It Goes" runs in over 50 publications, including The Ventura County Star, Frontier Airlines' in-flight, Toastmaster International, and Funny Times. The column won second place in humor from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Jason performs standup all over the country. He appeared on a standup special for Starz, and has shared the stage with Dane Cook, Jamie Kennedy, David Spade, Drew Carey, etc. Jason's one-liners appear in numerous book collections and were featured this year in the Reader's Digest "Laugh Riot" issue. For The Ventura County Star, Jason hosts videos that have twice been covered by Editor and Publisher. His Web site, JasonLove.com, draws 50,000 hits per day. His mother still asks when he is going to get a job. |
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Bryan "Mac" McKenzie Bryan McKenzie wasn't born a newspaper reporter, it just seems like it. He has been a newspaper columnist for nearly 30 years, splitting his duties with covering courts, crime, politics and 4-H club meetings. In that time he has won numerous press association awards in Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. Investigations are ongoing. Since 1993, he has been the full-time human interest/humor columnist for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Virginia. He has also written several unpublished novels, is a motorcycle safety instructor and teaches tai chi at a local senior center, helping seniors to move really, really slow since 1991. He has served as a judge for the Erma Bombeck contest for several years and also served as a judge for the North Carolina Press Women's Association annual awards. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of Minnesota, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. |
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Mary Menke Owner and President of WordAbilities.com, Mary Menke is a writer, consultant, business communications trainer and professional speaker. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, WordAbilities provides writing and editing services to businesses and individual authors and writers throughout the United States. Mary is a member of the following organizations: South County Toastmasters (Toastmasters International), St. Louis Writers Guild, National Association of Women Writers, National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Erma Bombeck Humor Writers Group, National Speakers Association. |
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Sheila Moss Columnist, Sheila Moss, is a free-lance writer from Tennessee. She writes funny stuff about southern life, women's issues, family matters and anything else that she finds amusing. She is seen weekly in the Aberdeen Examiner, Angleton Advocate, Daily News of Kingsport (online) and appears in a monthly humor publication called Foolish Times. She has written for Atlanta Woman Magazine, and a supplement of the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal. She has been published by Voyageur Press, McGraw Hill, and Guidepost Books has recently published a number of her articles in their Let There Be Laughter series of books. Her articles have appeared in numerous other publications, both print and online. She is a board member and the Web Editor of Columnists.com, Web site of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the oldest and largest professional organization for news columnists. She is also the Web Editor of SouthernHumorists.com and HumorColumnist.com. |
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Bill O'Neill Bill O’Neill has written for the Cape Cod Times, the Boston Globe, the London Sunday Times, CMJ New Music Monthly, the Harvard Independent, the National Enquirer and a batch of other publications. He was the lifestyle editor at the Cape Cod Times for almost 10 years, and the paper’s pop-music columnist for 12 years. He won awards for his interviews with a mannequin keeper, Liza Minnelli and a guy who claims to be Elvis Presley Jr. billowrites.com |
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Ben Pollock Ben Pollock's day job is a news copy editor/page designer for the Northwest Arkansas edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette -- a night-and-weekend job, actually. "Like many columnists, my column writing has been a sideline. Mainly as a side to being a copy, metro, editorial page and wire editor," he says, "My last humor/general interest column ended two weeks after 9/11. Today I'm amazed I'm still employed by a newspaper." While on the wire desk 1986-98 at the Democrat-Gazette, Ben was charged with the reader-favorite daily column, the decades-old, never-bylined 1A-Column 1 "In the News." Each "newser" item is a complete wire service story, reduced to a single sentence. He has a bachelor's in communication and American studies from Stanford University and a master's in journalism from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He is in his second term as secretary of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. In lieu of a newspaper column, he writes a blog as part of his Web site Secretary, National Society of Newspaper Columnists |
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Susan Reinhardt Susan Reinhardt is the author of Not Tonight Honey, Wait ‘Til I’m a Size 6, now in its 5th printing. She is the mother of two precious children, ages 14 and 9, and enjoys anything related to water except snakes. Reinhardt is a community volunteer, a member of the PTA and the Read it or Not, Here We Come Book Club. She is a regular public speaker, having done a keynote address for the Erma Bombeck Writers Convention in Ohio last year. Reinhardt is available to speak to large corporations or small groups. Her topics are "Healing Through Humor," and "Out of the Darkness," which delves into her battles with depression and other illnesses. It is her mission to bring these issues out of the closet, to remove the stigma, and enlighten others so they may get help and find joy in their lives. She also does stand-up comedy and loves being a guest on radio shows, many national programs inviting her to join them. She is a syndicated columnist and has won dozens of awards. Web Site: http://www.susanreinhardt.com/ |
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Ron Rollins Writer and editor Ron Rollins has covered entertainment and the Dayton arts scene for more than a decade. His column, Brain Droppings, is a commentary on arts, books, culture and entertainment published by the Dayton Daily News. |
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Wade Rouse Wade Rouse is a "laugh-out-loud-funny" (NBC’s Today Show), "wise, witty and wicked" (USA Today) writer whose humor is successfully akin to suburban housewife Erma Bombeck (The Onion). Rouse "beautifully combines humor and pathos" (Out Magazine), and, in a short time has established himself as "an original writer and impressive new voice" (The Washington Post) whose "combination of honest emotion and evocative prose seems destined to be a hit!" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Wade Rouse is the author of three, critically-acclaimed memoirs, including America’s Boy (Dutton/2006), Confessions of A Prep School Mommy Handler (Harmony/2007), and his latest, the bestselling At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life (Harmony/2009). |
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Mike Sacks Mike Sacks has written for Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, The New Yorker, Time, McSweeney’s, Radar, MAD, New York Observer, Premiere, Believer, Vice, Maxim, Women’s Health, and Salon. He has worked at The Washington Post, and is currently on the editorial staff of Vanity Fair. His first book, And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 26 Humor Writers About Their Craft, was released in July 2009. Some of those interviewed include: George Meyer, Harold Ramis, Al Jaffee, Buck Henry, Bob Odenkirk, Stephen Merchant, David Sedaris, Jack Handey, Robert Smigel, and Daniel Clowes. His next book is scheduled for release in the summer of 2010. And Here's the Kicker : conversations with 21 top humor writers on their craft |
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Joel Schwartzberg An award-winning essayist and screenwriter, Joel Schwartzberg is the author of "The 40-Year-Old Version: Humoirs of a Divorced Dad" which was released in 2009. He was a Head Writer for Nickelodeon in 1998 and later an editorial director for Time Inc. Interactive. Currently, he is the Director of New Media for a PBS broadcast news magazine. Joel's essays on parenting and other spontaneous phenomena have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Star Ledger, New Jersey Monthly, Babble.com, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Huffington Post, and regional parenting magazines throughout the U.S. and Canada. Joel is also a featured blogger for The Star Ledger/NJ.com's popular Parental Guidance blog and a "Children & Media" blogger for iVillage. Web site: http://www.joelschwartzberg.net |
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David Shapiro David Shapiro has covered Hawaii news as a reporter, editor and columnist for four decades. His column, "Volcanic Ash," has appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser since 2001. "Volcanic Ash" is a three-time winner of the Hawaii Publishers Association Pa'i Award for best editorial column. The column was also honored three times for Excellence in Journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists, Hawaii Chapter, which inducted him into its hall of fame in 2001. Shapiro has conducted news writing and editing workshops at more than a dozen newspapers across the country and has also taught journalism at Kapi'olani Community College. He enjoys writing fiction and personal essays and is an editor of the online literary journal flashquake. He conducts a self-help writing workshop, The Healing Journal, for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Find out more about David in his blog, Volcanic Ash.net. |
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Jen Singer Jen Singer is the creator of MommaSaid.net, a Forbes Best of the Web community for mothers, and the author of five books, including the Stop Second-Guessing Yourself guides to parenting and You’re a Good Mom (and Your Kids Aren’t So Bad Either). She has written for numerous media outlets, including American Baby, Good Housekeeping.com, Parenting, The New York Times Motherlode blog and Parents. A cancer survivor, she is writing a thoughtful, yet humorous memoir. She lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and two boys who talk to her through the bathroom door. |
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Pat Snyder For nearly a decade, Pat Snyder, a recovering lawyer and mother of three, has chronicled her crazed struggle to lead a balanced life in "Balancing Act", a regular humor column that appears in Suburban News Publications, a chain of 22 weekly papers around Columbus, OH. In September, 2009, she came out with her first book: The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life. When she is not dancing around in a Dr. Seuss hat and leading laugh-ins as a certified laughter leader with the World Laughter Tour, Pat speaks on life balance and leads workshops to help others bring more humor into their lives and their writing. A former reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal and columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, she has won state and national journalism awards and a Thurber House humor-writing contest. Pat lives in Columbus, OH, with all the dogs that eat her planner. |
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Brian Thompson Brian Thompson has been writing a weekly humor column called "Life in a Nutshell" for The St. Augustine Record the past decade or so. The column recently was a first place winner in the commentary category of Florida Press Club’s 2009 Excellence in Journalism Contest. You can read "Life in a Nutshell" online at www.nutshellcity.com. Thompson is a former journalist and editor, and has been a freelance writer for Scholastic’s Parent and Child Magazine, Folio Weekly, Jacksonville Magazine, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, Rosebud, and Delicious Magazine. He works at Flagler College where he edits Flagler Magazine, advises the student newspaper, and teaches journalism. He graduated from Flagler College in 1995 with degrees in Communication and English, and in the spring of 2009 he earned his master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. His master’s thesis on collegiate journalists won the 2009 Nordin Award for research from College Media Advisers. He is the founder and current president of the Florida College Press Association. |
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Peggy Tibbits Peggy Tibbetts is an author and freelance editor. She was managing editor and columnist at Writing-World.com. She has also worked as an associate producer of educational videos for Upper Midwest Films, contributing editor for Children's Magic Window magazine, and Children's Writing Resource Editor at Inkspot.com. Her manuscript Letters to Juniper by Peggy Tibbetts won the YAFiction.com Middle Grade Novel Contest. "I live in Silt, Colorado, nestled along the banks of the Colorado River and gateway to the Flattops Wilderness. I love everything about living in the Rockies – the gorgeous scenery and breathtaking sunsets. My sacred place is a little island in the Colorado River we locals named Dogland because we take our dogs there and let them run around crazy. On long walks with Zeus (Alaskan Malamute) and Venus (Akbash/Lab mix), I plot and plan my books." Web site: http://www.peggytibbetts.net/ |
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Maggie Van Ostrand Maggie Van Ostrand's award-winning humor column appears in local hard copy newspapers from California to Ohio, as well as online publications. She has frequently been published in the Chicago Tribune, and has been published in the Boston Globe, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Amarillo Globe-News, Sun-Sentinel, and other national newspapers and magazines. Maggie churns out political satire for The Huffington Post, entertainment columns for fandomania.com and filmschoolrejects.com, a column on the Old West for texasescapes (for which she is a contributing editor), monthly columns about Mexico for mexconnect.com, and ghostwrites for television comedies. Her website also features a different column at http://www.maggievanostrand.com. She is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists in the U.K. Maggie was also a judge of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Contest in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and judge of 2007 Arizona Press Club Award for journalism. Before that, Maggie was a theatrical agent, Vice President of Mark Goodson Productions, head writer of a trivia quiz show, and roadie for rock and country & western stars. Born and educated in New York City, Maggie Van Ostrand currently maintains two homes: one in the mountains of central Mexico, and the other in the mountains of southern California. |
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George Waters Winner of the prestigious Will Rogers Writing Contest, George Waters writes a weekly humor column which appears in newspapers and on his Web site, The "Wa" Blog. His work is featured in Suzette Martinez Standring's book, The Art of Column Writing, and his humorous parenting essays have appeared in L.A. Parent, Dallas Child, Kansas City Parent, New Jersey Family and numerous others regional parenting publications. Read more from George Waters in The Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill and Other Great Columnists by Suzette Martinez Standring. |
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Bob Welch Bob Welch is a speaker, author, award-winning columnist and teacher. He serves as an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He has keynoted conferences, workshops and retreats across America, tugging at hearts and tickling funny bones. A storyteller by nature, most of Welch’s speaking fodder comes from the 11 books he’s authored and the nearly 2,000 columns he’s written for The Register-Guard, Oregon’s second-largest newspaper. He has been honored six of the last eight years by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and was first place winner in the humor category of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists contest. He has won dozens of journalism awards, including the Seattle Times C.B. Blethen Award for Distinguished Feature Writing and the Oregon Newspaper Publisher Association's "Best Writing" and "Best Column" awards. His book, American Nightingale, was featured on ABC’s "Good Morning America" and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. His most recent book, Pebble in the Water, amplifies the author’s American Nightingale experience from an idea written on a Wendy’s napkin to the four years it took before the book was published. A previous book, Easy Company Soldier, has been ranked No. 1 in the country among World War II/Western Front books. A Father for All Seasons, won the Gold Medallion Award for Family & Parenting. Welch’s articles have been published in more than a dozen books, including seven in the popular "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series and magazines such as Los Angeles Times, Reader's Digest, Sports Illustrated and Runner's World. Web Site: http://www.bobwelch.net/2009/Bob_Welch/Home.html |
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