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By
Christine Steele
Tim Lynch, senior copy chief, of the
Los Angeles Times has been named the 2006 Robinson Prize
winner, the second recipient to receive the award from the
American Copy Editors Society.
A stunned Lynch,
who was not told of the award in advance, received a trophy
and $3,000 check at the ACES conference banquet on Friday, April 20,
in Miami.
Lynch won over judges with the broad range of accomplishments
listed in his nomination: he's a manager who works in the
trenches; he's an advocate for the copy desk and a leader
in his newsroom; he is creative and forward-thinking; he has embraced new
technology; he's an educator outside the newsroom and a teacher on the job;
he's a sharp copy editor and headline writer.
| J.A. Montalbano (Albuquerque
Tribune) was the head of the judges committee that
chose Tim Lynch for the second annual Robinson Prize. |
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Lynch’s supervisor, Clark P. Stevens, chief of copy desks
at the Los Angeles Times, said that Lynch does not need
supervising, but he bears watching for what you can learn
from him.
“You have to watch closely, because in being outstanding
he conducts himself with a personal grace that keeps him
from standing out,” Stevens said.
“His guidance has enhanced the skills and careers of many
people at the Times and inspired the careers of promising
journalists who will staff the newsrooms (and Web sites)
of the future.”
Jennifer Karmon, national copy editor, also at the Times,
said that Lynch is the best headline writer at the paper,
with an understated elegance you notice most in its absence.
“When someone is filling in for him on A1, the Column
One headlines lack musicality, or the headlines on “brights”
have flash but not substance, or the news headlines just
miss the mark. He has an uncanny ability to zero in on exactly what
the reader needs to know about any given story,” Karmon
wrote in a letter of recommendation.
Lynch puts in countless hours and routinely schedules
himself for split days off so that other people’s days
off aren’t split. And he spends a substantial part of his
annual vacations re-energizing by indulging his passion: teaching seminars
in copy editing.
“Tim Lynch is extraordinary,” said Marcy Springer, Los
Angeles Times editor and news executive. “With one more
arm, he could run the place.”
In what he does for his colleagues, for his paper and
his profession, Lynch embodies excellence over the whole
range of skills and contributions in editing. As Springer said,
for the copy desks and all of us, he is guru, pilot and friend.
Christine Steele
is a senior copy editor with The Capital Group Companies
in Los Angeles.
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| Congratulating Lynch after the banquet are, from left,
Jason Morris (Chicago Tribune), J.A. Montalbano (Albuquerque
Tribune), Barbara Tarshes (Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise),
Steve Eames (Los Angeles Times), Aubespin scholar
Matthew Dulin (University of Houston) and Clark P. Stevens (Los Angeles Times).
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