communication department

Volume XIX Number 6

Competitions

Advice for Competition Managers

What can STC communities do to hold successful local competitions? The Society-level managers of the international competitions—Ginny Gilstorf, manager of the international online communication competition (IOCC); Mimi Jones, manager of the international technical publications competition (ITPC); and Karla McMaster, manager of the international technical art competition (ITAC)—provide the following advice for ensuring that your competitions are a positive experience for entrants, judges, and—above all—your community.

General Advice

• Read descriptions of competition categories carefully. Make sure your competition uses the same categories and definitions as the international competitions. Category descriptions appear in the Guidelines for Competition Managers, which will be posted on the STC Web site in July.
• Make sure your entries are properly categorized. Verify that each entry conforms to the description of the category to which it is assigned. For example, there are differences between a Technical Marketing entry and a Demo entry in the online communication competition.
• In your call for entries, stress the importance of entry descriptions, especially the entry’s intended audience. A detailed description helps judges provide useful evaluations—and can mean the difference between winning and not winning an award. You may call entrants for more information if their entry forms do not provide enough detail.
• Don’t set an expectation that awards are easy to win. Most entrants won’t receive an award, but they will receive objective feedback from trained judges that can help them improve their work.
• Make sure entrants know that they may enter more than one competition. For example, the cover of a manual entered in a publications competition may also be entered in an art competition.
• If you plan to trade entries with another chapter, begin your search early. Make sure that both chapters have similar deadlines and anticipate a similar number of entries. Lists of chapters holding competitions will be posted to the STC Competitions Web site. The lists will be updated throughout the summer.

Judges

• Make sure your judges use current judging forms. Forms for all three international competitions will be posted on the STC Web site in July.
• Tell judges to carefully review descriptions on entry forms, especially the entry’s intended audience.
• Train your judges. In particular, stress that they must keep an open mind during team discussions and that their comments and methods of scoring should be consistent. Judges should not be more lenient, for example, with entries that are produced under less than ideal conditions.
• Remember that STC membership is not a requirement for judges. If you’re having trouble finding judges, try to recruit members of other professional organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). You may find judges for your art competition at local art organizations; printers often know freelance artists or have designers on staff who may be interested in judging. You can also try local advertising agencies and colleges.

Handling Entries

• Inform whoever handles the receipt of entries that some categories in art competitions require entries to be mounted.
• Make sure that entries in online competitions have accurate installation instructions and list any required software needed to judge the entry. For example, if a PC tablet is needed, make sure that the submitter provides the hardware.

Feedback and Questions

Send feedback on the competitions’ evaluation forms to the appropriate international competition manager. However, please don’t send revised forms. If you’d like to suggest revisions to the forms, please contact the appropriate competition manager in early May of next year.

• If you have suggestions for new competition categories or changes to existing descriptions, contact the international competition manager and Karen Baranich, chair of competitions.
• If you’re not sure about something, ask! Following is contact information for the international competition managers:
  
  Ginny Gilstorf, IOCC
  (763) 505-7929
  
  Mimi Jones, ITPC
  (803) 642-1949
  
  Karla McMaster, ITAC
  (865) 481-3875

Note that January 15, 2007, is the deadline for sending winners of Distinguished Technical Communication awards as entries to the international competitions. Don’t wait until the deadline to send in your entries. The date for receipt of entries will be strictly adhered to in 2007. Send entries to:

STC, Attn: [name of international competition]
901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904
Arlington, VA 22203

If you have any comments about the competition process or suggestions for improvements, contact any of the competition managers or the chair of competitions, Karen Baranich.

Good luck!

Competition Contacts to be Posted

Lists of STC communities holding technical art, technical publications, and online communication competitions will soon be posted to the STC Web site. The lists include entry deadlines and names of community contacts and will be continuously updated as more information is received.