2026 Bill Walsh Scholarship goes to two winners
By ACES Staff
The ACES Education Fund has chosen two winners for the 2026 Bill Walsh Scholarship for excellence in the editing of news.
Abbey Sobelman and Sheridan Wood are the tenth and eleventh recipients of the $3,500 award, named for the late Washington Post editor and author Bill Walsh, who also was a member of the Education Fund Board of Directors.
The two were chosen from several dozen outstanding applicants representing public and private universities from across the U.S. and around the world.
Abbey Sobelman is a senior in journalism and communication studies at Northern Arizona University. She has worked at the Lumberjack, the student newspaper, and KJACK Radio, the student radio station, since her first year in college. Through these experiences, she has been drawn to the editing process.
“Editing has been the highlight and passion of my college career,” Sobelman said. “This award will allow me to complete my undergraduate degrees in journalism and communication studies this May and support the start of my professional career.”
Sheridan Wood is a master’s student in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism at the University of Montana. She has worked as a copy editor and reporter at several media outlets and has won awards for radio reporting. Her career plans center on local news.
“I am honored to be named the 2026 Walsh Scholar, and am deeply grateful to the ACES Education Fund judges and donors for this opportunity,” Wood said. “I strongly believe high quality, well edited news is paramount to the foundation of an informed democracy, and am so grateful for ACES’ assistance as I pursue my news editing goals.”
Thanks to all the judges for the Walsh award: Bill’s wife, Jacqueline Dupree, whose generosity established the award in 2017, as well as Bill’s brothers, Kenneth Walsh and Terence Walsh, Washington Post standards editor Carrie Camillo, Education Fund board member Lindsay Augustyn, and inaugural Walsh winner Jamie Zega, also at the Post.
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About the Bill Walsh Scholarship
The Bill Walsh Scholarship honors a student pursuing a career in news editing, The award, endowed by the Walsh family after Bill’s death, is administered by the ACES Education Fund and is supported by donations to the ACES Education Fund.
Lisa McLendon, president of the Education Fund’s Board of Directors, managed the Walsh Award selection process this year.
“It was so difficult for the judges to decide on one winner that we chose to award two scholarships this year,” McLendon said.
The ACES Education Fund has also announced the 2025-26 ACES Scholarships, including the Aubespin Scholarship, all of which are also awarded annually.
The application deadline for all ACES scholarships is November 15 each year, with the winners announced the following January. In addition to cash awards, the scholarships include financial aid to attend either an in-person or virtual ACES conference.
The ACES Education Fund has disbursed over $100,000 since 1999, raised entirely through donations, to more than 150 recipients. Learn more about previous winners Steven Vargas, 2020-21 ACES Scholar from USC; and Audrey Kuo, Aubespin Scholar, 2008-09, from UCLA.
Learn more about the ACES Education Fund
The ACES Education Fund
The ACES Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and its predecessor have awarded more than 150 scholarships since 1999 to students who have a passion for editing. The ACES Education Fund is run by an all-volunteer board of directors, and all awards are supported by donations.
ACES: The Society for Editing
ACES: The Society for Editing is the nation’s leading organization of editing professionals, educators, and students. Founded in 1997 by copy editors, ACES is dedicated to improving the quality of the written word and the working lives of editors. It sets standards of excellence and gives a voice to editors in journalism, government, business, publishing, and beyond through top-notch training, networking, and career opportunities. ACES hosts an annual in-person conference and, since 2022, an annual virtual conference. ACES Academy hosts monthly webinars. ACES also offers certificates in editing, which it co-hosts with The Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism.
