Application materials for each year's scholarship open in late summer. Applicants for all ACES scholarships must be seeking degrees as enrolled college/university juniors, seniors, or graduate students at the time of the deadline (Nov. 15), and demonstrate an interest in editing as a career.
The specifics for all six scholarships are below. Applications must be emailed by the end of Nov. 15. All entry materials must be in English.
The Bill Walsh scholarship will go to an applicant who aspires to edit news and who demonstrates the talent and passion for language that Bill devoted his life to. Applicants for the other five scholarships should have a commitment to a career in the editing of written materials and demonstrate effectiveness in doing so.
By submitting a separate application for each, an entrant can seek both the Walsh and one of the other scholarships, but can win only one.
The four steps to apply for an ACES Education Fund scholarship
1. Provide your résumé, with evidence of academic achievement and exemplary work in editing. Please include information on other substantial achievements/activities/interests.
2. References: Provide the names and titles or job descriptions of a total of three instructors and/or work supervisors, and their contact information.
3. Please explain, in no more than 500 words, what your “dream job” is and what specific steps you have taken to gain knowledge and skills in pursuit of that job. (Don’t worry, this isn’t carved in stone – you can change your mind later!)
4. Address the following three scenarios:
Scenario 1: You work in a university teaching resource center and want to share this article with your audience of academics across disciplines: Campus sexual assault prevention programs could do more to prevent violence, even after a decade-long federal mandate (theconversation.com)
Write an Instagram caption that encompasses the main takeaway of the article for your followers. Limit the caption to 200 words.
Scenario 2: You work in the communication department of a hospice center and sharing a blog about managing grief from the American Psychological Association. Write a title/headline of no more than 10 words for the following short article:
Mourning the loss of a close friend or relative takes time, but research tells us that it can also be the catalyst for a renewed sense of meaning that offers purpose and direction to life.
Grieving individuals may find it helpful to use some of the following strategies to help them process and come to terms with loss:
Scenario 3: You are editing a news story for a campus publication. Based on this excerpt, what questions do you have for the reporter?
The university has decided not to offer a mental health day this semester. During the previous academic year, two mental health days were offered.
Dean of Students Mark Weber said now that WSU has moved away from the virtual learning format, students can seek assistance on campus.
“We’re back in person, offices are open, people are here, resources are available, activities are taking place … so we are in a place where we’re here to support students,” he said. “Mental health is definitely an issue, definitely a concern, but we’re also open and here to help.”
Some faculty, like Classical Ballet II and III instructor Jane Adams, decided to give their students a mental health day despite the lack of an official designation.
“(A)s a teacher, I was like ‘you know what, I’m just going to make sure that we have that this year, that we keep that going’ because I feel like we forget that we’re still in so many ways still in a pandemic or coming out of a pandemic,” she said.
Thomas said she saw an obvious change in students’ mental health before the COVID-19 pandemic compared to now.
“I found myself using a lot of my mental health resources to help students more now than I ever had to before the pandemic, which is why I think that it’s also important for professors and educators to also have at least resources or training in mental health awareness and mental health aid,” Thomas said.
Strauss said rather than having a single day dedicated to mental health, students can reach out to instructors with any difficulties they may have throughout the semester.
“(M)y belief, is that one day will not change an issue. One day will not change a problem,” he said. “What we need to do, and what we are doing, is that everything we do is focused on student wellness, and we’re all here to help.”
Cydney Collins, a sophomore biomedical engineering major, said she hasn’t seen that focus.
“I don’t think they’ve really done anything,” she said. “We’ve just been having our classes.”
Collins said a day off from classes would help her mental health.
“(The lack of a mental health day is) terrible because it’s been so stressful,” she said. “I’ve been having a lot of work back-to-back. I just need a break, honestly.”
Collins had an instructor declare their own mental health day, she said.
Thomas said she admired the university for recognizing the collective strain on the campus community and providing a day off last year. However, being back in-person does not negate the need for a mental health day this semester.
“I think we forgoed that because we’re like, ‘okay, we’re coming out of the pandemic, and we need to get back to this normal,’ but it’s never going to be normal,” Thomas said. “I don’t want to go back to what was normal. What was normal was two cups of coffee and running yourself into the ground, and I don’t think that’s the best version of you that you can give to people.”
Note: We realize that you may decide to use AI tools such as ChatGPT. It is our belief that the technology is not to the point where it might actually help you — that in fact it might provide worse answers than your own. We already know what kind of responses AI produces in regard to these exercises. What matters in this scholarship competition is what you think.
Email your complete application as an attachment - ONE single PDF file - with "ACES scholarship" in the message field - to mtmaurant@aceseditors.org. Begin the file name of your attachment with your last name.