April 27, 2018 -- ACES: The Society for Editing recognized the winners of the 2017 National Headline Contest at the awards banquet during ACES’ 22nd annual conference in Chicago. The organization’s premier contest aims to reward exceptional headline writing in all types of media, from newspapers to social networks.
View the Headline winner presentation.
Individual winners in professional categories won between $75 and $300, and individual winners in student categories won between $50 and $125. The winners each submitted multiple headlines. The complete list of winners and a sampling of headlines from first-place portfolios are below.
2017 HEADLINE CONTEST WINNERS
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Industry or Public Relations
- 1st: James Tehrani, Sphera Solutions
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Six Personalities Walked Into a Risk Assessment . . . Optimizing Evaluations by Addressing Personality Types”
- No other places were awarded
National News Organization
- 1st: Gael Cooper, CNET.com
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Prada sells $185 paper clip, and Twitter can’t hold it together”
- 2nd: Angela Jamison, Los Angeles Times
- 3rd: Jim Webster, The Washington Post
- Honorable mentions: Andre Vergara, Los Angeles Times; Panfilo Garcia, The Washington Post
Regional/Local News Organization
- 1st: Rich Mills, Omaha World-Herald
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Murder with no body will be tried with no jury”
- 2nd: Eric Martin, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon)
- 3rd: Paul Johnson, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon)
- Honorable mentions: Mark Kazlowski, The Dallas Morning News; Frank Christlieb, The Dallas Morning News
Student Publication
- 1st: Kaitlyn DeHaven, The Baylor Lariat, Baylor University (Waco, Texas)
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Baamaste: Yogis achieve zen with farm animals”
- 2nd: Chandler Boese, University Daily Kansan, University of Kansas
- No other places were awarded
STAFF AWARDS
Industry or Public Relations
- 1st: Guerrero
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Scholastic Feats & Where to Find Them”
- 2nd: Portfolio Media/Law360.com
- 3rd: Rotary International
National News Organization
- 1st: The Washington Post
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Protests make Washington's port-a-potty industry flush”
- 2nd: NBC News
- 3rd: NPR
- Honorable mention: Los Angeles Times
Regional/Local News Organization
- 1st: Omaha World-Herald
- 2nd: NJ Advance Media (Newark, New Jersey)
- 3rd: The Dallas Morning News
- Honorable mention: The Oregonian/OregonLive
Student Publication
- 1st: Torch, Ferris State University (Big Rapids, Michigan)
SAMPLE HEADLINE: “Ferris State: Where the students are salty, but the sidewalks are not”
- 2nd: The Daily Tar Heel, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- 3rd: The Baylor Lariat, Baylor University (Waco, Texas)
Photo by Marcus dePaula on Unsplash
