Re: STC competition

[Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- PROTEON -dot- COM]

One thing(k) I have to say to everyone who has problems with the way
STC competitions are judged:

SO VOLUNTEER TO JUDGE, ALREADY!!!!!!

Sorry to be so adamant, but when you set up a competition expecting
to get X number of entries and get Xsquared number of entries, and
can't find any additional judges because everyone's "too busy" (too
busy to judge, but not too busy to judge the judging), something's
got to give.

Even if you don't feel you know enough to judge, do it anyway.  STC
provides very good guidelines for judging, and most competitions have
a training day for judges (San Diego's does, anyway, when it's our
rotation to host).

Reading and judging entries takes time.  If you're a judge, and
budget time for 10 entries and get 20, you're probably not going to
allot extra time, because you probably already allotted all the time
you had available for judging.

Last year, San Diego had over fifty judges -- no one had too much
work, and on the whole, we returned useful comments (at least the
people I was lead judge for in the Arts contest did).

Again, if you want a lot out of of ANY organization, you have to be
willing to put something in, other than your entry fee (which usually
BARELY covers the cost of running the competition).  All the judges
are volunteers, not paid.  And they usually don't plan on devoting
their lives to the STC Pubs competition for the duration.  It's a
matter of numbers (and some training).

I'm not justifying bad comments like the ones mentioned here -- those
are pretty inexcusable no matter how many entries you had to wade
through.  (Usually, I try to preface personal taste comments with
something indicating that's what they are...and I try not to weigh
personal preferences in too heavily in the scores)  What I am asking
for is a little awareness of how difficult it is to put on an STC
competition at all, let alone a good one.  Please try to remember
that the next time you're asked to judge.  And if you've never been
asked, call your chapter and volunteer for the next competition.

Perhaps a session on competition judging at the national and regional
conferences would be in order?

Bonni Graham                               |
Technical Writer                           | Most software is run by
Easel Corporation, ENFIN Technology Lab    | confused users acting on
Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- relay -dot- proteon -dot- com | incorrect and incomplete
President, San Diego STC                   | information, doing things
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