2025 in Review: Notes from ACES Education Fund President
By ACES Staff
Every year at the ACES conference, my favorite part is meeting in person people I’ve only emailed with previously – in particular, our scholarship and fellowship winners. What’s even better is seeing previous winners on the schedule as speakers! The whole mission of the ACES Education Fund is to support the next generation of editors, and I’m pleased that we have been able to continue that support in 2025.
Six college students and four professional fellows received awards this year. The ACES scholarships go to students aspiring to a career in editing, and the Holden Diversity Fellowships go to early- and mid-career editors for professional development.
The 2024-25 scholarship winners were: Molly Bruni of Pace University in New York City, Callie Cassick of Arizona State University, Allison Durazzi of Iowa State University, and Anna Rinaggio of Berry College in Georgia. The Aubespin scholar was Anna Colletto of the University of Missouri, and the Walsh scholar was Ashlee Korlach of Syracuse University. The Aubespin scholarship, a $2,500 award, honors the late Merv Aubespin, an early proponent of ACES. The Bill Walsh scholarship, a $3,500 award, is named for the late Washington Post copy editor, author, and member of the Education Fund board of directors, and is awarded to a college student who aspires to edit the news.
Four fellows make up the sixth cohort of the Holden Diversity Fellowship: Rhonda Kronyk of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, an editor, writer, and advocate for culturally respectful publishing practices; Tanya Natalie Kurukulasuriya of Sydney, Australia, owner of an editing and proofreading business; Ruth Terry, of Istanbul, Turkey, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, a freelance developmental editor for Sage academic publishing; and Brittany Yost of Seattle a freelance developmental editor and sensitivity reader. The Holden Fellowship program, begun in 2020, is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion by advancing early- and mid-career professionals in their work as editors and aspiring industry leaders. The fellowship recognizes the work of the late Rich Holden, who championed diversity in editing as the longtime managing director for the Dow Jones News Fund.
In addition to scholarships and fellowships, the ACES Education Fund manages the Henry Fuhrmann Mentor Award. The Fuhrmann is now an established award, honoring mentors for the third year in 2025. The 2025 award went to two standout mentors: longtime ACES member Matthew Crowley and freelance journalist Hannah Bae. The award, for journalism editors who have supported others in career development, is named for the late Henry Fuhrmann, former president of the Education Fund, to honor his generous, careerlong spirit of mentorship. The award is a joint effort of the ACES Education Fund and the Los Angeles chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.
In 2025, our work was made possible by the commitment of a supportive community. The Education Fund thanks all our donors for their generosity through donations alongside membership renewals and conference registrations, through the Spelling Bee and Silent Auction at the conference, and more.
Candice Gullett won the 13th annual ACES Education Fund Spelling Bee in Salt Lake City, correctly spelling “tiramisu.” Peter Sokolowski of Merriam-Webster was our emcee and pronouncer, and picked what some would call a doozy of a set of words, from lists provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The Bremner Editing Center at the University of Kansas sponsored the Bee’s cash prizes. Atlanta 2026 conference attendees can register to attend or compete in the Spelling Bee when they register for the conference. We are also already working on the Silent Auction for the Atlanta conference; the donation form is live, so if you’d like to donate something for the auction, check out the auction page for all the information.
Looking ahead to the new year, the Education Fund will announce the 2025-26 scholarship winners soon and accelerate planning for our conference fundraisers. We hope all ACES members are inspired by our scholarship and fellowship winners, by the sessions at the conferences, and by the joy their peers and colleagues find in the practice of editing.
Lisa McLendon
President, ACES Education Fund
