The North American Snowsports Journalists Association has a history rooted in the growth of skiing itself. In the years following World War II, members of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division returned home with a deep love of skiing, helping fuel the rise of newly developed ski areas across the country. As skiing grew in popularity during the post-war years, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television began assigning more coverage to the sport, from recreational skiing to ski racing.
By the 1950s, ski writers across the country were already organizing regionally. Around 1955, Carson White of the San Francisco Examiner founded the Northern California-Nevada Winter Sports Writers Association. In 1959, Eastern winter sports writers gathered at Wildcat Mountain for the 1960 Olympic trials and met in Jackson, New Hampshire, to discuss forming what would later become the Eastern Ski Writers Association in 1962.
The need for a national organization soon became clear. On June 14, 1963, a group of ski journalists gathered at the Jack Tarr Hotel in San Francisco during a United States Ski Association meeting. That meeting led to the creation of the United States Ski Writers Association, with Carson White serving as the organization’s first president and Tom Place of the Cleveland Plain Dealer becoming its second president and early executive secretary.
In its early years, the organization worked to establish credibility and structure for ski journalists across the country. By 1965, it was organized into six regions: East, Central, Rocky Mountain, Northern California-Nevada, Southern California, and Pacific Northwest. The ski industry recognized the value of a self-vetting professional press organization, and NASJA’s predecessor quickly became an important voice within the sport.
Awards also became central to the organization’s mission. One of the first major honors was the Harold S. Hirsch Award for journalistic excellence, established with the support of White Stag founder Harold Hirsch. The first recipient was Bill Berry of the Sacramento Bee in 1963. Other honors followed, including the Competitor of the Year Award in 1967 and the Golden Quill Award in 1968, later renamed the Carson White Golden Quill in 1994.
Annual meetings became one of the organization’s most important traditions, bringing members together at ski destinations across North America. Sun Valley hosted the first of several annual meetings beginning in 1965, helping launch a long tradition of gathering, networking, skiing, storytelling, and strengthening professional relationships across the snowsports world.
As the industry changed, the organization changed with it. In the 1980s, NASJA expanded its awards to recognize still photography and radio broadcasting, created professional conduct guidelines, and formed a Canadian chapter. The organization was renamed the North American Ski Journalists Association to reflect its broader geographic reach.
In the 1990s, NASJA continued to evolve, welcoming photographers, filmmakers, broadcasters, and book authors more fully into the organization. The word “ski” was eventually changed to “snowsports” to recognize snowboarding and other winter disciplines, as well as the changing nature of mountain culture and media coverage.
The turn of the millennium brought new questions about journalism, technology, and media itself. As print outlets declined and digital platforms grew, NASJA adapted by recognizing internet writing, blogs, and emerging forms of storytelling. The organization also created the Bob Gillen Memorial Award for Professionalism in Public Relations in 2002 and later added honors recognizing the spirit and dedication of colleagues such as Paul Robbins and Mitch Kaplan.
Across five decades, NASJA has remained a community of storytellers connected by a shared love of skiing, snowboarding, winter, and the mountains. Its members have helped document the athletes, resorts, innovations, personalities, and moments that shaped North American snowsports. From newspaper columns and broadcast segments to photography, books, blogs, podcasts, and digital media, NASJA continues to honor the past while looking toward the future of snowsports journalism.
This 50th anniversary video offers a look back at NASJA’s rich history, from its beginnings as the United States Ski Writers Association in 1963 to its evolution into a North American organization representing snowsports journalists, photographers, broadcasters, authors, digital creators, and industry communicators. Through archival stories, member reflections, and historic milestones, the video celebrates the people and passion that have shaped NASJA’s legacy.