I was a copy editor at USA Today for nearly 17 years, from 2003-20.
I worked in the News, Money and Life sections and for a year also worked exclusively on "special tab" sections. I helped spearhead the "Gannett page" that morphed into the popular "butterfly" edition, a news section used by all Gannett newspapers. I trained and mentored our summer college interns for many years. For my last five years at USA Today, I supervised all Money production, overseeing typesetting of the pages and acting as liaison to our production hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
Below, you'll find some of my favorite headlines. I won several company awards during my time here, but I am probably best remembered for catching an error in Webster's Dictionary while fact-checking a graphic. (Curious? Click here.) Click any story to enlarge it.
Each edition was about 42 pages; I wrote every headline and caption. Some required extensive research and writing. I enjoyed doing the tabs because it was a rare occasion where my name appeared in the credits. (We copy editors are an anonymous bunch!) Here are a few examples. (Click any story to enlarge it.)
Special tab sections
"Passages"
Passages was my "baby," and I was the principal copy editor on it for about a decade. It began as several full pages in the daily news section at the end of the year and eventually became a special section for sale on newsstands. Like all our tabs, it was a big seller.
