A former Nickelodeon Online producer & head writer, law school dropout, and doomed
Wheel-of-Fortune contestant, Joel Schwartzberg founded the TIME For Kids website in 2000,
and served as Editorial Director for Time Inc. Interactive until 2004. Currently a Senior Editor for
PBS Interactive, Joel is a member of the Online News Association, the National Academy of
Media Arts & Sciences, and the PBS Interactive Producer Advisory Board.
Joel's collection of essays, The 40-Year-Old Version, was released by Wyatt-MacKenzie
Publishing in June, 2009. In 2010, it won first place in the humor category of the 2010 Next
Generation Indie Book Awards and is a finalist in the humor and essays categories of the 2010
ForeWord Magazine "Book of the Year" Awards.
Joel is also an official blogger for The Huffington Post, as well as a featured blogger for the Kids
& Media Channel of iVillage.
The father of three, Joel's freelance essays have been published in Newsweek, The New York
Times Magazine, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, New Jersey Monthly,
The Star-Ledger, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Babble.com, and in the flimsy pages of a
number of regional parenting magazines littering waiting rooms throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Joel's awards include placing 2nd for the second year in a row at the 2009 National Society of
Newspaper Columnists' Column-Writing Competition. (He's currently a finalist for 2010).
He was also named a finalist for "Best Commentary" at the 2008 Online News Association Awards
and "Humor Writer of the Month" in 2007 by the award-winning Erma Bombeck Writing
Workshop. In 2010, Joel was asked to be a judge for the prestigious 2010 Erma BombeckWriting
Competition.
Joel has won over 25 awards since 2006 from Humor Press' "America's Funniest Humor Writing
Contest", including 1st Place, 2nd Place, 4th Place, and 5th Place (Still looking for that elusive
third!). Not exactly Pulitzer Prizes, but Joel takes credit wherever he can find it.
Joel has ten unproduced screenplays to his credit, including a 2007 Shriekfest Film Festival
Screenplay Competition Finalist, "Midnight Screaming"; a 2006 Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay
Competition Semi-Finalist, "Guardian Angels"; and a 2005 Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay
Competition Finalist, "Rosabelle Believe." A number of his screenplays are under option
consideration.
Wait, wait, there's more: A 1990 National Champion in public speaking, Joel was inducted into
the National Forensic Association Hall of Fame in 2002. He coached competitive forensics teams
at Queens College, St. Joseph's University, Seton Hall University, and the University of
Pennsylvania, and is now instructing Mediabistro classes in public speaking and author publicity.
In his free time, Joel likes to eat, breathe, and watch things move.
HOME
Wheel-of-Fortune contestant, Joel Schwartzberg founded the TIME For Kids website in 2000,
and served as Editorial Director for Time Inc. Interactive until 2004. Currently a Senior Editor for
PBS Interactive, Joel is a member of the Online News Association, the National Academy of
Media Arts & Sciences, and the PBS Interactive Producer Advisory Board.
Joel's collection of essays, The 40-Year-Old Version, was released by Wyatt-MacKenzie
Publishing in June, 2009. In 2010, it won first place in the humor category of the 2010 Next
Generation Indie Book Awards and is a finalist in the humor and essays categories of the 2010
ForeWord Magazine "Book of the Year" Awards.
Joel is also an official blogger for The Huffington Post, as well as a featured blogger for the Kids
& Media Channel of iVillage.
The father of three, Joel's freelance essays have been published in Newsweek, The New York
Times Magazine, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, New Jersey Monthly,
The Star-Ledger, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Babble.com, and in the flimsy pages of a
number of regional parenting magazines littering waiting rooms throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Joel's awards include placing 2nd for the second year in a row at the 2009 National Society of
Newspaper Columnists' Column-Writing Competition. (He's currently a finalist for 2010).
He was also named a finalist for "Best Commentary" at the 2008 Online News Association Awards
and "Humor Writer of the Month" in 2007 by the award-winning Erma Bombeck Writing
Workshop. In 2010, Joel was asked to be a judge for the prestigious 2010 Erma BombeckWriting
Competition.
Joel has won over 25 awards since 2006 from Humor Press' "America's Funniest Humor Writing
Contest", including 1st Place, 2nd Place, 4th Place, and 5th Place (Still looking for that elusive
third!). Not exactly Pulitzer Prizes, but Joel takes credit wherever he can find it.
Joel has ten unproduced screenplays to his credit, including a 2007 Shriekfest Film Festival
Screenplay Competition Finalist, "Midnight Screaming"; a 2006 Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay
Competition Semi-Finalist, "Guardian Angels"; and a 2005 Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay
Competition Finalist, "Rosabelle Believe." A number of his screenplays are under option
consideration.
Wait, wait, there's more: A 1990 National Champion in public speaking, Joel was inducted into
the National Forensic Association Hall of Fame in 2002. He coached competitive forensics teams
at Queens College, St. Joseph's University, Seton Hall University, and the University of
Pennsylvania, and is now instructing Mediabistro classes in public speaking and author publicity.
In his free time, Joel likes to eat, breathe, and watch things move.
HOME
Biography
