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Subject:Re: STC Letter to the Editor From:"Mark L. Levinson" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 04 Nov 2002 22:04:18 +0200
Cheryl writes:
> If you have not been an STC judge, how can you evaluate
> whether STC judges have been trained to try to be as fair
> as possible and to evaluate more than just layout and
> design? It is best to make this decision after you have
> undergone judges' training, seen the judging forms,
> and experienced an interactive judging session.
Okay. I've undergone judges' training, seen the judging
forms, and experienced an interactive judging session.
I've managed three local competitions and judged in the
international competition. And though that still doesn't
make me an expert on STC (there are far too many generalizations
made about STC on the basis of contact with a chapter here and
an officer there who may or may not be typical), I think that
simply to examine the judging forms is to see that the
emphasis is skewed toward structure and away from content.
Also away from grammar and clear writing. Not that they
aren't mentioned, but quantitatively they get little
attention in comparison with their importance in the field.
Personally I'd like to see some change in the emphasis, but
of course no way is the STC going to set up testing labs
for the manuals.
Steve writes:
> I wanted to hear how the average Boston judge, with less
> than five years of experience, recognizes the writing style
> (in a technical manual, no less) of any one of thousands
> of potential applicants;
I don't quite get this point. Every manual I've ever
received for judging has the original application attached
to it, with the submitter's name. (In my own chapter,
the Israel chapter, generally we swap entries with another
chapter in order to avoid judging our own buddies' work.)
Andrew writes
> 1. Some STC competitions graciously allow non-STC
> folks to enter.
Not accurate quite yet. All STC competitions allow
non-STC folks to enter. It's not a question of grace,
it's something to do with what's legally required from
a nonprofit organization, I think.
Mark L. Levinson
Herzlia, Israel
nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
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