Erma Bombeck Writing Competition: 2024 Judges

Introducing our esteemed panel of judges for the 2024 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition which includes actors, authors, bloggers, columnists, comedians, directors, editors, producers, professors, and writers from across the globe! We thank them for their time and expertise! See the list of judges from the last competition.

Bill Scheft (Humor Category)

Novelist, columnist, television writer. During the last four decades, Bill Scheft has established himself as a versatile, singular and influential comedic voice. He is the author of five novels including his most recent, "Tommy Dash: Was It Everything I Said?" His second novel, "Time Won't Let Me" was a finalist for the 2005 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Which means he, uh, didn't win.

Scheft is best known for his longtime work with David Letterman, for whom he was a staff writer from 1991-2015 at NBC and CBS. During that time, was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards. Which means he, uh, never won. He has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Salon, AirMail, McSweeney's and the New York Times Book Review. And from 2002-2005, his popular humor column, "The Show," ran weekly in Sports Illustrated. A collection of his columns, "The Best of The Show" was published in 2005.

In 2009, Scheft was the keynote speaker at the Erma Bombeck Writers Conference in Dayton which remains one of the Top Half-Dozen great moments in his alleged career.

Vick Mickunas (Human Interest)

Vick Mickunas created the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO Public Radio in 1994. His conversations with a vast range of writers, from the famous to the obscure, has been a staple on the radio dial for decades. It is currently one of the longest running radio shows about books.

In 2004 he began writing a column about books for the Dayton Daily News. His book reviews, author interviews, and musings about the book publishing industry have appeared in print ever since. He recently filed his 1000th weekly Book Nook column for the Cox Ohio newspapers.

Mickunas and his partner, Amy Achor, live near Yellow Springs with eight cats and the neighbors' rooster who spends most of the day in their yard.