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Back in August, I polled the TECHWR-L list about the Broken Blue Pencil
(BBP) award given by the Association of Earth Science Editors along with
its official awards for outstanding publications and editorial/publishing
accomplishments. The BBP award is given for self-nominations only (but
rarely claimed) in humorous recognition of mistakes beyond the ordinary.
The Awards Committee agreed that the BBP award is harmless fun but felt
that it doesn't offer any standard to the membership and is inappropriate
to present in the same ceremony with the "real" awards.
Response from TECHWR-L was unanimous: keep the BBP and play it up! So
that's what we recommended, and the Board of Directors agreed. The BBP is
now an unofficial award that will be decided by the Board instead of the
Awards Committee, with a separate presentation made. Bringing it up for
discussion renewed interest in the BBP, and AESE members scrambled to find
a deserving recipient at our recent annual meeting.
Thanks to Marv Cochrane, Eric Haddock, Kate Marventano, Marilyn Barrett
O'Leary, Betsy Perry, Rebecca Phillips, and Diane Williams for your input!
