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 Director of New
Media for the Emmy Award-winning news magazine NOW on PBS, 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. It was recently optioned for film and television by a Los Angeles-based
producer.
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 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 from Humor Press' "America's Funniest Humor Writing Contest",
including 1st Place in 2009 and 2008, 4th Place in 2007, and 2nd Place in 2006. 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."
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 Director of New
Media for the Emmy Award-winning news magazine NOW on PBS, 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. It was recently optioned for film and television by a Los Angeles-based
producer.
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 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 from Humor Press' "America's Funniest Humor Writing Contest",
including 1st Place in 2009 and 2008, 4th Place in 2007, and 2nd Place in 2006. 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."
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
