Francisco Gutierrez, a May 2023 graduate who worked on the OU Daily's copy desk throughout his time at OU, earned a national accolade Thursday.
Gutierrez, a San Antonio native who was a 2022 Dow Jones News Fund editing intern at The New York Times, has been named the 19th Edward Trayes Scholar. He was selected for the honor by Dr. Ed Trayes from among 12 interns who completed his legendary editor boot camp at Temple University.
Before graduating, Gutierrez wrote an essay about his time at the Daily in which he juxtaposed his love for copy editing with his love of running.
"Running and copy editing," he wrote, "share the same basic mechanics that scratch the same itch in my head. Both require constant, monotonous repetition in training. Both require you to enter a special headspace outside of the world around you. And for me, both have been all I’ve known throughout college."
From the Dow Jones News Fund release:
“Francisco did an outstanding job during the 2022 multiplatform editing residency at Temple,” said Dr. Trayes, praising Gutierrez’s work ethic.
“Repeatedly he demonstrated the qualities one looks for in one who aspires to focus on the editing side of journalism. He respects the editing process and its importance. He sees the many ways effective desk operations contribute to stronger print and online publications. Francisco is very much about quality journalism at all levels.”
Trayes, a professor emeritus at Temple, directed more than 65 editing residency programs for the News Fund between 1968 and 2022, teaching interns the art of editing, from news judgment to geography to Associated Press style.
The honor comes with a $1,000 award, which Gutierrez will use for a lifetime membership to ACES: The Society for Editing.
The Trayes Scholarship Program has been funded by the O’Toole Family Foundation of Short Hills, New Jersey, since 2004 to honor Dr. Trayes. Terry O’Toole, a 1979 News Fund copy editing intern at The Wall Street Journal, and his wife, Paula, donated a total of $20,000 to the Dow Jones News Fund.
Gutierrez discovered his love for journalism when he arrived at the University of Oklahoma and joined the OU Daily newsroom staff. He found he had a passion for editing. It was his work at the OU Daily that prepared him for the Temple editing residency and New York Times internship.
“He makes every story he touches better,” said Seth Prince, OU Daily faculty adviser and DJNF alumnus (’00). “In both Oklahoma and New York, he's built lasting relationships because of his skills as a journalist as well as for his intentionality as a person.”
Gutierrez credits the training with helping him find his voice as an editor. “Copy editing goes so much beyond just editing for facts, grammar, style. Dr. Trayes really showed us that copy editors have a lot more authority and responsibility.”
When Gutierrez applied to the News Fund, he had never had an internship. He decided to let fate decide if he should stick with editing or go into professional writing. That winter the News Fund offered him his first internship on The New York Times print hub.
John Woods, Gutierrez’s internship supervisor at The New York Times, praised his work, “To me, Francisco was all strengths. I would rate him as one of the best Dow Jones interns we ever had. He was collegial and eager to help. But more important, he showed a real aptitude for the work and was quick to pick up new skills.”
After his internship, Gutierrez returned to the University of Oklahoma for his senior year where he applied Dr. Trayes’ lessons as the OU Daily copy chief.
“I became a lot more vocal at the Daily about making sure that our stories were having the proper impact for our audience. Making sure that voice was clear, so it kind of helped me look beyond the basics of copy editing and look a bit wider, how I could make more of a difference.”
Gutierrez graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May. He recently accepted a copy editor position at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
The Trayes Scholars:
This article was originally published on OU Daily.
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