From a highly qualified field, Jamie Zega, an Indiana University senior, has won the first-ever Bill Walsh Scholarship, named for the late author of three books and editor of news at The Washington Post.
Zega receives $3,000 plus financial support to attend the next annual conference of ACES: The Society for Editing, which will be in Chicago in April.
Zega has a double major of journalism and history. Culminating an active campus career, she served as the editor-in-chief for Indiana University’s student newspaper, managing all online and print content while overseeing its transition from five days a week in print to two in print and 24/7 online coverage.
This summer, Zega will be a multi-platform editing intern at — coincidentally — The Washington Post. Last summer she was a copy editing intern at The New York Times.
Support for the Walsh Scholarship comes from individual donations from the Walsh family, ACES members and other contributors. The competition is administered by the ACES Education Fund, of which Bill Walsh was a board member.
Finalists for the scholarship had to write an essay based on the Bill Walsh quote “a finely tuned ear is at least as important as formal grammar,” correct a news lead, write summaries for a variety of news reports, and take a timed editing test.
The judging panel was made up of three members of the Walsh family who are professionals in the editing/writing field and two editors who are members of ACES.
