Alexandria Baca
University of Missouri
Aubespin Award

The winners are Alexandria Baca of the University of Missouri; Mike Cirelli, Otterbein University; Ashley Dye, Ball State University; Melisa Easaw, The College of New Jersey, and Katie Fennelly, University of Nebraska.

As the top candidate among the applicants, Baca was named the Aubespin scholar and given $2,500. Other winners each received $1,000.

Mike Cirelli
Otterbein University

In addition, each winner is eligible for free registration to ACES’ 2013 National Conference in St. Louis, plus up to $500 for conference travel expenses.  Four of the five gratefully expect to attend.

Applicants were judged on their editing abilities and commitment to copy editing as a career, as demonstrated through their multi-faceted applications and a copy-editing test.

Alexandria Baca is advancing toward a master’s degree in journalism while working as an assistant news editor at the Columbia Missourian, a web-first daily newspaper.  “Copy editors play a vital role in maintaining the credibility of news organizations,” she notes.  “The fresh perspective copy editors bring to each story (or tweet or headline) is essential when, often, the ‘publish’ button is within reach to anyone with a social media account.”

Baca has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Florida and has worked as a reporter, copy editor, page designer and teaching assistant.

Ashley Dye
Ball State University

Mike Cirelli is majoring in journalism and communication design at Otterbein while working on an extended internship at the features copy desk of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, where veteran colleagues say how much they admire how he goes about the job.  He wrote in his application: “Understanding how to adapt to the world of multimedia journalism has become essential for copy editors.”

Melisa Easaw
The College of New Jersey

Cirelli has been a reporter, copy editor and editor in chief of his university’s weekly newspaper and design editor of its literary magazine.

Ashley Dye is majoring in journalism and telecommunications and has been forum editor and copy chief at the Ball State Daily News.  “Above all else, copy editors need to have the readers’ perspective in mind.  If readers do not understand or enjoy reading pieces, journalism has failed,” she wrote in her application.

This term, Dye emailed more recently, “I am studying French at a center for foreign students at Université Rennes 2 in Rennes, France. Luckily, there’s a student newspaper for the center so I get to learn journalism all over again in another language.”

Melisa Easaw is majoring in journalism and professional writing at The College of New Jersey, where she has been a writer for the department of college relations and a copy editor and writer for the college’s weekly newspaper.  In her scholarship application, she wrote: “While the platforms of the news may be ever changing, one thing that shouldn’t change is the emphasis on clarity, conciseness and accuracy that only a talented copy desk can ensure.”

Last summer Easaw was a Dow Jones copy editing intern for The Journal News and The Poughkeepsie Journal.  She also speaks Spanish and Malayalam.

Katie Fennelly
University of Nebraska

Katie Fennelly is a news-editorial journalism major and has been an assistant web chief, arts & entertainment reporter, news reporter, page designer, copy editor and slot editor at the Daily Nebraskan. Her application observed: “The truth is, everyone needs an editor: reporters, video journalists and web developers alike.”

As an intern for Hear Nebraska, Fennelly wrote and copy edited articles, worked with the website and social media, and prepared audio and video features.

ACES has now awarded 64 scholarships since 1999.

If you are a junior, senior or graduate student, you can apply through a newly simplified and fully online process. For specifics, view the application page.

The top award, for $2,500, is named for Merv Aubespin, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, a longtime champion of copy editors and, as the chairman of the Human Resources Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in the mid-1990s, the “godfather” of ACES.

The other four awards are for $1,000 each. All five winners also receive free registration, as well as up to $500 each for travel, to attend the annual ACES conference.

The scholarships are open to college juniors, seniors and graduate students who are in school for at least one full term during fall 2013 through summer 2014. Previous winners are not eligible.

For questions, please e-mail Alex Cruden at alex@copydesk.org.

There are now five awards to college juniors, seniors and graduate students each year: four scholarships of $1,000 each and one of $2,500. The largest grant is named for Merv Aubespin, the “godfather” of ACES. This year’s scholars are Joshua Barone, University of Missouri (Aubespin scholar); Zachary Aldrich, Matthew Draper, Margaux Henquinet and Arielle Retting.

The ACES Education Fund Inc. was established in 2004 as a nonprofit a 501(c)3 organization to administer the awards and to raise money to assure that we can continue to provide them.

Until 2010, the scholarships were underwritten by ACES and the proceeds of the silent auction at the national conference. The Education Fund is now self-sustaining, though it depends on donations and the auction to maintain its endowment.

The Education Fund is now seeking to expand the scholarship awards to allow travel stipends for winners. If donors’ generosity increases, the Education Fund hopes to add to both the number and size of the scholarships.

For students, learn more about the scholarship and how to apply.

Your tax-deductible contribution will help — donate online or download our donation form.

Just a few months later, she was hired as an overnight producer at The Washington Post. She’s come a long way from Franklin, Neb., a town of about 1,100 people where Ingram grew up on a farm not far from the Kansas border. It’s a one-stoplight town, she said, if you count the light that only flashes red or yellow depending on the direction you’re driving.

Moving to D.C. has been a cultural shift. “It is strange being in a city where so much of the town is — in one way or another — government-related,” she says. “Look left and you see an embassy; look right and there’s some sort of a federal agency.”

But the biggest change hasn’t been about adjusting to D.C. It’s been reorienting to post-college life. She credits her student involvement with ACES for helping her make the transition to the big leagues smoothly.

“My involvement with ACES has, of course, pushed me to improve my skills as an editor,” she said, “but more than anything, it helped me get to know professionals while I was still a student.”