Robinson Honorees
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.
Past recipients
2005: Paul Soucy, USA Today
USA Today news copy editor Paul Soucy humbly accepted the society's first Robinson Prize in 2005, a $3,000 award in recognition of excellence in editing and love of the profession.
He said winning the prize was a great honor adding that copy editors don't get much recognition, except maybe in in-house headline contests. If a paper wins a big prize, like a Pulitzer, Soucy said the copy desk may be last in the praise parade, behind reporters, editors, photographers, and even clerks.
"The reason this is so special is that it doesn't come from somebody in a glass office, it comes from other copy editors," Soucy said. "It comes from other people who eat lunch at their desks. It comes from people who are coming into work in the opposite direction of traffic, when everyone else is going home. It comes from people who haven't watched prime-time television in prime time in the last 15 or 20 years."
Soucy's "No. 1 love is language," said his boss, Susan Miller, news copy desk chief, in her nomination letter. She called him "a master of style, grammar and language," and noted that "his humorous, no-nonsense style has engaged and energized colleagues throughout the newsroom."
Like the best copy editors, Soucy "approaches his job like a reader," said Owen Ullmann, USA Today's deputy managing editor for news. "His knowledge and love of the written language have made him a catalyst in our newsroom for elevating stories and making sure we always connect with our readers."
— Matthew Crowley, Las Vegas Review-Journal
2006: Tim Lynch, Los Angeles Times
Tim Lynch, senior copy chief, of the Los Angeles Times was named the 2006 Robinson Prize winner, the second recipient to receive the award from the American Copy Editors Society.
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.
Lynch's supervisor, Clark P. Stevens, chief of copy desks at the 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, The Capital Group Companies, Los Angeles
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