National Headline Contest Gives Top Prize to Times Copy Editors

HOUSTON —  Copy editors from the Los Angeles Times took the top prize Thursday in a national contest sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society to recognize the nation’s finest headline writers.

The prizes, carrying cash awards for the first time in the competition’s four-year history, were announced at the society’s national conference here.

The Times editors won the top prize in the staff category, which provides a showcase for the work of teams of copy editors.

The first-place prizes in other categories went to editors from the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, the Beaumont Enterprise in Texas and the Great Falls Tribune in Montana.

Members of the winning Los Angeles team were Dave Barton, Art Buckler, Jim Coleman, Pat Connell, Mike Davis, Laura Dominick, Dan Donovan, Steve Horn, Tim Lynch and Marc Olson.

“Headlines are the most widely read component of any news publication and crafting them effectively requires an array of rare skills,” said Hank Glamann, a newsroom trainer and the coordinator of this year’s contest. “Such talent deserves respect and recognition, and that is what this peer-reviewed national contest provides.”