Annual contests

The American Copy Editors Society awards leaders in the industry through several awards:

Headline contest: Our annual contest offers a total of $2,250 in cash prizes for outstanding headline writing. Each year, our members judge several hundred entries and honor the best at the annual conference. To learn more, head over to the headline contest page.

Robinson Prize: ACES awards $3,000 each year to a person whose exemplary work upholds the craft. The prize is named for Pam Robinson, a co-founder and past president of ACES and focuses on excellence over the whole range of skills and contributions in editing. To learn more, head over to the Robinson Prize page.

Glamann Award: In 2007, ACES created an award recognizing people and organizations that have contributed the society and the craft. It is named for Hank Glamann, ACES co-founder and a former national board member. Read about the 2007 honoree, the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, or the 2008 honoree, Merrill Perlman.

Past winners and recipients

Thanks to the hard work of longtime ACES member and contributor Alex Cruden, the following lists all past winners and recipients. We hope to expand this list with biographical information and photos in the near future. The years are listed during which the work was done; each prize was announced in the following year.

Robinson Prize

2005 -- Paul Soucy, USA Today LINK

2006 -- Tim Lynch, Los Angeles Times LINK

2007 -- Adam Smith, The Augusta Chronicle LINK

2008 -- Michael Roherman, The Wichita Eagle LINK

Glamann Award

2007 -- Dow Jones Newspaper Fund LINK

2008 -- Merrill Perlman LINK

Headline prizes

2000

Division A (open) -- Missy Prebula, Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle

Division B (papers over 250,000 circulation) -- Gina Nania, The Charlotte Observer; Joel Pisetzner, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.); Jake Vest, Orlando Sentinel

Division C (125,000-250,000) -- Don P. Brown, The Daily Oklahoman; honorable mention to Karen Yurconic, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)

Division D (50,000-125,000) -- Tom Wilk, Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, N.J.)

Division E (smaller) -- no winner; honorable mention to Lisa McLendon, Denton Record-Chronicle

2001

Division A (hard news) -- Martin D. Bennett, New York Daily News; honorable mention to Paul Lefton, Orlando Sentinel

Division B (papers over 250,000) -- Bill Chronister, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), and Michelle Maltais, Los Angeles Times; honorable mentions to Marc Olson, Los Angeles Times; Amy Richards, The Plain Dealer; Chris Zang, The Baltimore Sun, and Leila A. Merrill and Sarah Hanan, each of The Dallas Morning News; special citation to Martin D. Bennett, New York Daily News

Division C (midsize papers) -- Pamela B. Nelson, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.); honorable mentions to Nicole Villalpando, The Austin American-Statesman; Wendy Fawthrop, The Seattle Times; Linda H. Lamb, The State (Columbia, S.C.); Mark Murphy, Syracuse Post-Standard; Elizabeth Gelgud, The Charlotte Observer, and Matthew Crowley, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Division D (smaller papers) -- Tom Paquin, The Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.); honorable mentions to Brian Hershberg, Courier-Post (Cherry Hills, N.J.) and Susan McNally-Worrell, Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.)

Division E (student publications) -- Mary Haley, Southern Connecticut State University

2002

Division A (hard news) -- Judy Cramer, Los Angeles Times, and Susan Waggener, Lexington Herald-Leader; honorable mentions to David Breen, Orlando Sentinel, and Peggy Boss Barney, The Salt Lake Tribune

Division B (papers over 250,000) -- Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times; honorable mentions to Ted Scala, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland); Chad Lorenz and Jennifer Balderama, each of The Washington Post; and Mike Davis, Betty Baboujon, and Samantha Bonar, each of the Los Angeles Times

Division C (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Peter Donahue, The Providence Journal; honorable mentions to Sarah Lindner, The Austin American-Statesman; Peter Parisi, Washington Times, and Matthew Crowley, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Division D (papers under 100,000) -- Michael Roehrman, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle; honorable mentions to Tom Wilk, Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, N.J.); Debbie Sprong, The Elkhart (Ind.) Truth; Melissa Murdza, Stars and Stripes, and Tom Paquin, The Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.)

Division E (student publications) -- Mary Haley, Southern Connecticut State University

2003

Division I (papers over 100,000 circulation) -- Jim Webster, St. Petersburg Times; award of excellence (honorable mention) to Sarah Lindner, The Austin American-Statesman

Division II (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Vic Odegar, The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise; honorable mention to Tim Murphy, The State Journal-Register (Springfield, Ill.)

Division III (papers under 50,000) -- Matt Ochsner, Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune; honorable mention to Barbara Kerr Page, Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune

Division IV (student publications) -- no winner

Division V (staff category) -- Los Angeles Times; honorable mention to the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader

2004

Division I (papers over 250,000 circulation) -- Liz Miniet, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; award of excellence (honorable mention) to Mark Chamberland, Denver Post

Division II (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Drew McQuade, Philadelphia Daily News; award of excellence to Nicole Villalpando, The Austin American-Statesman

Division III (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Steve Byers, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times

Division IV (papers under 50,000) -- Dalton Tomlin, Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle; award of excellence to Barbara Kerr Page, Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune

Division V (staff category) -- The New York Times; award of excellence, Tampa Tribune

Division VI (student publications) -- Anna Holland, Iowa State Daily; award of excellence to Stephanie Miller, Columbia Missourian

2005

Division I (papers over 250,000) -- Laura Dominick, Los Angeles Times; award of excellence (honorable mention) to Jim McNett, The (Portland) Oregonian

Division II (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Peter Donahue, The Providence Journal; award of excellence to Joshua Beach, The Seattle Times

Division III (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Steve Byers, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times; award of excellence to Jeff Verbus, The Repository (Canton, Ohio)

Division IV (papers under 50,000) -- Tracy Cox, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News

Division V (staff category) -- The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash.; award of excellence to The Washington Post

Division VI (student publications) -- Lauren Raab, The (UCLA) Daily Bruin; award of excellence to Zachary Dillon, The Daily Bruin

2006

Division I (papers over 250,000) -- Rachel Dunn, Los Angeles Times; award of excellence (honorable mention) to Bill Walsh, The Washington Post

Division II (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Peter Donahue, The Providence Journal; award of excellence to Rebecca Young, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

Division III (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Michael Roehrman, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle

Division IV (papers under 50,000) -- Jim Thomsen, Kitsap (Wash.) Sun; award of excellence to Barbara Kerr Page, Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune

Division V (staff category) -- Minneapolis Star Tribune; award of excellence to The New York Times

Division VI (student publications) -- Lauren Raab, The (UCLA) Daily Bruin

2007

Division I (papers over 250,000) -- Gregory Cowles, The New York Times

Division II (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Matthew Crowley, Las Vegas Review-Journal; award of excellence (honorable mention) to Panfilo Garcia, The Austin American-Statesman

Division III (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Michael Roehrman, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle; award of excellence to Ashley Winchester, Connecticut Post

Division IV (papers under 50,000) -- Gary Housey, West Paterson (N.J.) Herald News

Division V (staff category) -- The New York Times; award of excellence to the Los Angeles Times

Division VI (student publications) -- Katie Michael, University of Oregon, Daily Emerald; award of excellence to Audrey Kuo, UCLA, Daily Bruin

2008

Division I (papers over 250,000) -- Jim Webster, St. Petersburg Times

Division II (papers 100,000-250,000) -- Monica Cardenas, Austin American-Statesman; honorable mention to Peter Donahue, Providence Journal

Division III (papers 50,000-100,000) -- Michael Roehrman, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle; award of excellence to Tom Wilk, Cherry Hill (N.J.) Courier-Post

Division IV (papers under 50,000) -- Niko Dugan, Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette

Division V (staff category) -- Los Angeles Times (Laura Dominick, Rachel Dunn, Amy Hubbard, Jennifer Karmon, Jim LaVally, Richard Nelson, Jessica Parks, David Shear, Ed Silver, Eldes Tran); award of excellence to the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette (Steve Buttry, Jeana Lewie, Rae Riebe, Scott Wingert)

Division VI (student publications) -- Audrey Kuo, UCLA, Daily Bruin

   

Mission Statement

  • The American Copy Editors Society is a professional organization dedicated to improving the quality of journalism and the working lives of copy editors. Our main purpose is to educate our members and others in ways to raise the standards of editing and increase the standing of copy editors. We've created a community that's made copy editors more visible and given them a more constructive role in their careers. We hope you'll join us in continuing that effort.

ACES CALENDAR

  • Philadelphia
  • April 15-17, 2010: Philadelphia conference LINK
  • Phoenix
  • March 17-19, 2011: Phoenix conference LINK

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