Smack Down! Perlman vs. Walsh | Schedule

3:30-5 p.m. Saturday

Smack down! Merrill Perlman vs. Bill Walsh (With Points for Style)

Merrill Perlman, Merrill Perlman Consulting
Bill Walsh, Washington Post

This will be held in the Grand Ballroom's Salons E and F on the third floor.

GENERAL SESSION: Battle of the grammar titans, ACES-style.

Copy editing isn’t an exact science, and no two copy editors agree on everything. Watch the sparks fly as two veterans hash out their own differences.

After 25 years, Merrill Perlman left The New York Times, where she was director of copy desks, last June, and hung out a consulting shingle. She writes the “Language Corner” column for Columbia Journalism Review, teaches at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and consults for The Times, ProPublica and the Poynter Institute, among others. She has presented at every ACES conference except the first, and isn’t about to stop now.

Bill Walsh is the copy chief for national and foreign news at the Washington Post. He has run The Slot: A Spot for Copy Editors (www.theslot.com) since 1995 and is the author of “Lapsing Into a Comma” (2000) and “The Elephants of Style” (2004). He was born in Pottsville, Pa., and grew up in Madison Heights, Mich., and Mesa, Ariz. After graduating from the University of Arizona in 1984, he worked in a variety of reporting, copy-editing and design positions at the Phoenix Gazette and the Washington Times. He joined the Post in 1997.

Last updated April 22, 2009

(3) Comments | Permalink |

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote 10 months, 1 week ago:

Sorry to point this out, but Merrill’s last name is misspelled in the hed.

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote 10 months, 1 week ago:

Thanks, Peter. Should be fixed.

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) wrote 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Will there be a video of the Grammar Smackdown available after the conference?

THE EVENTS

Winning headlines posted

The winners of the 2008 headline contest have been posted. The winners were announced during the 2009 conference on April 30 in Minneapolis. To see them, click here.

Joe Grimm turns keynote on its head

Joe Grimm brought down the house with his hilarious speech that had an important message about copy editing’s (and newspapers’) future.

Joe Grimm probably sensed we could use a smile.

Dour news hung outside the Minneapolis Hilton, where the American Copy Editors Society was holding its annual conference. There were big layoffs at The Baltimore Sun, a shake-up at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the threat of shutdown at The Boston Globe.

So, when he took the lectern for his banquet-night keynote, Grimm was Grimm, not grim. The former Detroit Free Press recruiter and the author of “Ask the Recruiter” looked into the crowd and said:
“Meetings from the Grotor City.”

Robinson Prize winner Michael Roehrman (left) of the Wichita Eagle with presenter Alex Cruden

Michael Roehrman of the Wichita Eagle has been named the 2008 Robinson Prize winner by the American Copy Editors Society. Roehrman, the Eagle’s deputy editor for production, is the fourth recipient of the Robinson Prize. The $3,000 annual award recognizes substantial contributions to the craft of copy editing and focuses on excellence over the entire range of skills and contributions in editing.

The American Copy Editors Society awarded its second annual Glamann Award to Merrill Perlman, a distinguished journalist, treasured member and frequent contributor to the society. Perlman is well-known at the annual ACES conferences for “If I Knew Only,” her wildly popular grammar session, which has been a hallmark of every conference since the first.

Opening session full of spirit

With the newspaper business continuing its painful contraction, no one could blame the American Copy Editors Society for worrying about this year’s turnout and attendees’ disposition. But worry turned to wonder as more than 200 people packed the Hilton ballroom for the opening general session. We’d made it, after all.

A continuing measure of success

In a year when leading journalism organizations nationally and internationally have canceled or postponed their annual conferences, the American Copy Editors Society conference, under way through Saturday in Minneapolis, has 254 registered participants attending its annual presentation of training workshops—80 percent of attendance last year in Denver under markedly different economic conditions.

This year’s headline winners

Winners of the American Copy Editors Society’s 2008 ACES national headline contest were announced Thursday at the 13th ACES national conference in Minneapolis.

This year’s scholarship winners

ACES has selected five winners of its 2008 scholarships: Audrey Kuo, a 2008 graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles; Rachel Hanson, a senior at the University of Utah; Kristen Huth, a senior at Pennsylvania State University; Benjamin Karp, a senior at Vanderbilt University; and Anna Young, a junior at James Madison University.

As the top candidate, Kuo was named the Aubespin scholar. The scholarship is named for Merv Aubespin, the former editor at The Courier-Journal in Louisville who is considered the “godfather” of ACES. Kuo receives $2,500, and the other winners each receive $1,000. In addition, all winners get free registration for the Minneapolis conference.

The winners were selected using these criteria:
• Commitment to copy editing as a career.
• Work experience in copy editing.
• Abilities in copy editing, as demonstrated by the examples in the application and the recommendations.

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ABOUT ACES

The American Copy Editors Society is a professional organization working toward the advancement of copy editors in newspapers, magazines, Web sites and other journalistic endeavors. Our aim is to provide solutions to copy desk problems through training, discussion and an awareness of common issues. Learn more

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ACES 2009 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

13th National Conference of the American Copy Editors Society, April 30-May 2 in Minneapolis, Minnesota