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After a break last year for various reasons, the ISTC's documentation awards are back. Council has taken the opportunity to consider the entry classes and make a radical revision.
Background
In the past, the organisers became aware that some people's work was not covered by the classes on offer. Over the years that the awards have been running, the nature of our work has changed. Far more electronic documentation is being produced, and there are as many software manuals as classical technical instruction manuals.
This year, therefore, there will be two main groups: paper and electronic documentation. Each group has two sub-groups. In this way, we hope that everybody will find that their work is covered.
Group 1: Paper documentation
This covers all publications designed to be printed on paper and read from the printed page.
Class 1a is for publications that describe the installation, operation or maintenance of any piece of machinery or equipment or a discrete software package. This is the big change: we are not discriminating between hardware and software. Systems comprising many different pieces of equipment or suites of software are also eligible.
Class 1b is essentially for anything that does not fit into Class 1a. This includes training and sales material, educational and teaching material, guidebooks, gardening books, cook books - you name it.
Group 2: Electronic documentation
This covers all material that is designed to be displayed on a computer screen and read directly from the screen. It does not include PDF versions of paper documents.
Entries in this group must be designed specifically for the screen. They must take into account the aspect ratio of the screen and make good use of the availability of colour, animation and navigational aids.
Again, there are two-sub-groups: Class 2a and Class 2b. The same definitions apply as for Group 1.
Electronic publications always present some difficulties to our judges because of the many different formats available. Entries must be presented on 3.5" floppy disks or CDROM, in a standard format (PDF, Windows Help, HTML and so on), or by reference to a publicly accessible website. In past years, some entries have required special readers; such entries can be accepted only if the appropriate reader is provided.
Entry procedure
Now it's over to you. Past entries have almost invariably been of a high standard and we are confident this will continue. However, one area for improvement is in the number of entries. We would like to see the judges kept very busy, as they try to select winners from large classes of the cream of technical communication in the UK and beyond.
To request rules and entry form, please e-mail awards@istc.org.uk or phone Carol Hewitt on 01733 390141. The closing date for receipt of entries is Friday 1 August 2003.
Give it a go. You may win, but even if you don't, you will certainly learn by comparing your work with other people's. The awards will be presented at Conference in October, where all the winning entries will be on display - yet another reason to book your place in Buxton now.
Sponsorship opportunities
At the time of writing, we are in the process of arranging sponsorship for the four award classes. As well as the promotional benefits, this provides an opportunity for companies to support professional development and provide a class judge.
If you'd like to sponsor a class, please e-mail awards@istc.org.uk or phone Carol Hewitt on 01733 390141 as soon as you read this. Classes may still be available.
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