To Judge or Not to Judge: Making a Personal Business Case to Participate in the STC International Contests

by Valerie M. Ball

This issue of the Willamette Valley Chapter (WVC) newsletter focuses on making a business case for technical communication. Most of us agree that technical communication is a necessary part of business. Sometimes, though, we do not make personal business cases for ourselves, a realization that I reached in March as an onsite judge in one of STC's International Contests.

Definition of STC International Contests

Participating in STC activities is good business for an individual, and judging avoids the public speaking that terrifies many communicators. The STC international contests are comprised of “distinguished” chapter winners; judges volunteer for teleconference or onsite meetings by submitting an application form and a résumé to STC. Our WVC notified members for the 2004 contests, and more information is available at the STC Web site (www.stc.org).

The Decathlon of Judging

Résumé

A résumé is a dual warm-up event. First, judging a professional contest strengthens a résumé; second, a résumé for international judging often exhibits some of the following:

• Master's degree or higher in technical communication or a related field
• Senior membership in STC
• Seven years in technical communication or a related field
• Strong publishing background
• Teaching experience in communication or a related field
• Winner of an STC or other communication competition award
• Certification by a communication-related professional organization

Quality of Communications

The second event is a bonus because entries at the international level should demonstrate high standards.

Critical Judgment

This event quickens the pace, as the act of evaluation reinforces a technical communicator's skills and awareness. Participants become more “critical” in a positive sense (“skilled judgment”), which they can later apply to their own work.

Precise Communications

The fourth event results from heightened critical judgment as judges use the STC guidelines to explain their conclusions about strengths and areas for improvement in each entry. Participants may sweat more as they critique their own writing for errors.

Comparison of Evaluation Abilities

Meeting with the other two judges on the team is often the first opportunity to compare evaluations. Possible concerns include:

   “Am I being too hard?”

   “Am I being too easy?

   “What if no one agrees with me?”

   “Can I justify my views to strangers?”

Pulse and respiration rates begin to rise. This event may bring on the most sweat.

Discussions on Quality

Similar anxiety about acceptance is probably experienced by the other judges. This anxiety resolves itself in discussions about STC guidelines and the qualities of the entries, marked with either similar viewpoints or wide-ranging differences. The variety of knowledge within each team provides the necessary balance for classifying each entry as “Best of Show,” ‘Distinguished,” “Excellent,” “Merit,” or “No Award.”

New People

Meeting new people is the no-sweat zone. Judges make acquaintances among themselves, members of the hosting chapter, and STC officers and staff.

Networking

Networking results from meeting new people, and individuals stand out for their professional abilities as well as their social behaviors.

Professional Affirmation

The entire contest experience affirms technical communication as a profession while it also affirms the value of contributions by all participants: entrants, judges, managers, and STC officers and staff.

Best of Show

Every decathlon culminates in awards, and the day of onsite judging ends with announcements about the three Best of Show winners—publications, art, and online documentation—and the review of each by the manager of each category.

About the Author

Employed as a technical writer at Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics, Valerie M. Ball has been a member of WVC since January 2002, served as a technical art judge in the 2002 and 2003 competitions , gave two presentations at the 2003 Region 7 Conference, and won an award of excellence for her trade-journal article, “Risk-Free Runways.” In a series of career transitions, she has been a political writer in Oregon and a university instructor of English in New York, China, Oregon, and Japan. Please contact her at vmball@rockwellcollins.com.