Nigerian Editor Amarachukwu Chimeka and 5 Others Announced As Winners Of The 2021 Holden Fellowship
The Holden diversity fellowship announced six editors for its 2021 fellowship. And Amarachukwu Chimeka is the only African on the list of winners.
The Society for Editing and the Dow Jones News Fund are pleased to announce the next round of the Richard S. Holden Diversity Fellowship. The Holden fellowship began in 2020. It is a pilot program with the major aim of promoting diversity and inclusion by advancing early- and mid-career professionals in their work as editors, communicators and aspiring industry leaders. Their goal is to enable participants to obtain the training and support they need for a faster track to success.
Six editors have been selected as the second class of recipients of the Richard S. Holden Diversity Fellowship, a collaboration of ACES and the Dow Jones News Fund.
Six Recipients for the Holden Fellowship 2021
Juliet M. Beverly of Arlington, Virginia. As senior editor with the Society for Neuroscience’s BrainFacts.org, she has attempted to carry new voices to the association’s central goal of reaching a large audience. Juliet enlivened the production of the staff-drove variety, value, and incorporation council.
She is dynamic in the Washington section of the National Association of Black Journalists. She also mentors high school students in the Urban Journalism Institute. She desires to utilize her fellowship to try out a science workshop studio and other trainings.
Amarachukwu Chimeka of Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria. Amara is a book editor, publisher, and advocate for young readers. She is the founder of Purple Shelves Ltd. It launched in 2018 with the aim to publish works by emerging authors and fill gaps she had identified as a freelance editor. To date, the company has published some 20 books.
Amara has established book clubs for young readers, raised money to buy books for children in rural Nigeria, and created a series of children’s storybooks. She plans to enroll in advanced courses in editing and publishing. She is the first African to receive this fellowship.
KaToya Ellis Fleming of Wilmington, North Carolina. KaToya is an editor of Lookout Books as well as an assistant professor of publishing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. In her work at Lookout, and before that as a fellow at Oxford American magazine, KaToya has committed to presenting work by writers of color, LGBTQ+ authors, and other often marginalized voices.
As an early-career editor, she hopes to elevate her craft through advanced training in editing, leadership, and publishing, as well as conference travel.
Sydney Jarrard of Hudson, New York. Sydney worked for eight years at the American Booksellers Association, rising to the position of content director. There, she led efforts to incorporate inclusive language in the organization’s publications, on its website, and in social media.
Sydney recently left the association to establish a new business as a consultant in conscious editing. She plans to apply her fellowship funds to coursework in advanced editing, web accessibility, and digital marketing.
Emily Shi Lee of Honolulu, Hawaii. Emily, an editor and content designer, is multilingual in Mandarin, French, and Spanish in addition to English. Before establishing her business, she worked as a quality assurance specialist, English language teacher, and language programs coordinator.
Emily seeks to raise the visibility of bilingual and multilingual editors; she set up a mastermind group with other ACES members with similar interests. Emily hopes to expand her business offerings through training in conversation design, search engine optimization, and working with data sets.
Seth McBride of Portland, Oregon. Seth copyedits all content for print and manages the website for New Mobility magazine, a publication of the United Spinal Association. He has worked with colleagues to diversify the magazine’s coverage and its roster of freelancers.
Seth, a medalist with Team USA in wheelchair rugby in three Paralympics, writes frequently about wheelchair sports and adaptive travel. As his work role expands to include cultivating writers, he plans to enroll in certificate programs in advanced editing, storytelling, and content strategy.
“These six editors impressed us with their commitment to advancing diversity in their workplaces and in their published work, all in support of the audiences they serve,” said Henry Fuhrmann, president of the ACES Education Fund. “Each has shown a passion for making a difference and promise for significant accomplishments in coming years.”
Each will receive up to $3,000 to apply to course tuition, conference fees, travel, or other costs related to their continuing career development and skill building.
The Education Fund, in partnership with the Dow Jones News Fund, announced the Holden Fellowship as a pilot program in summer 2020. The objective is to promote 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 Richard S. Holden, who championed diversity in the ranks of editors as the longtime managing director for the Dow Jones News Fund.
Fuhrmann oversaw this year’s competition for the Education Fund and served as a judge alongside Paula Fuchsberg, an editor at Vanguard and member of the Education Fund board; DeAndre Lipscomb, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Homepoint; and Jared Servantez, night city editor at the Los Angeles Times and a graduate of the Dow Jones News Fund’s summer editing program.
Major funding for the Holden Diversity Fellowship has been provided by the ACES Education Fund, the Dow Jones News Fund, the Scripps Howard Foundation, and individuals who seek to perpetuate the ideals of Rich Holden.
“We’re grateful for the interest and enthusiasm of all of this year’s applicants, who have confirmed the demand for a fellowship of this kind and proved the concept in just the second year,” Fuhrmann said.
ACES will announce the opening of the 2022 application process early in the new year.
