Some comments and instructions in this page are for audio browsers and users who browse this site with screen readers. If you can see this paragraph and you are not using a text-only or screen reader browser, either the style sheet for screen viewing didn't load (if so, click on "refresh" to reload the style sheet), or you need to use a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards-supporting browser that has full XHTML 1.0 Transitional and Strict and cascading style sheet (CSS) level 2 support. (For information about these browsers, see Standards-supporting browsers.) The Society for Technical Communication is a W3C member: http://www.w3.org/.

For additional information, see the Accessibility Design and Features page.

Skip navigation

 

 Washington, DC Chapter

 
 
The following is the main content for the page. 
 

Pull browser window out or in to widen or shorten line length.

Information for Judges

Competitions Home • Judges Information • Judging Schedule • Judging Application Form
• Categories • Judging Online Communication • Judging Technical Art • Judging Technical Publications
Contacts • FAQs

 

Judging the Online Communication Competition

• What's New This Year?
• What Forms Will I Need to Judge Entries?
• What Are the Evaluation Criteria?

The 2008-2009 Online Communication Competition consists of 4 categories. Entries for the Online Communication competition include forms of communication that depend on an electronic medium for delivery. The entries must be primarily intended for viewing on a computer or similar device, not on paper. These forms of communication include computer-based training, online documentation, Help systems, online demonstration programs, multimedia information systems, and Web pages. The competition is not limited to online documents that support computer products. Entries can include online encyclopedias, road maps, foreign language instruction, medical handbooks, and more.

What's New This Year?

This year the six categories from previous years have been reduced to four categories.

  • Changes in the Competition Categories: The competition categories have been modified. There is one new category (promotional), two categories have been removed, and the reference category has been modified.
  • Updated Platform and Browser Standards:
    • The platform requirements have been updated to include Windows Vista and not to include Windows NT.
    • The list of standard browsers includes Firefox 2.0 and does not include Netscape Navigator 7.1.

PDF Documents

Adobe® Acrobat® files are accepted only in the Technical Publications and Technical Art competitions. For details, see Technical Publications Entrants.

What Forms Will I Need to Judge Entries?

Judging Evaluation Forms for Online Communication

Comments Cover Sheets (Lead Judges)

Note: See the Download help page if you have problems downloading or using the PDF or zipped files.

What Are the Evaluation Criteria?

Entries will be divided among the judges based on the categories. Judges will review the entries on their own time over a period of four weeks. Then, judging teams will convene and review each entry in their team's categories.

Entries will be evaluated in the context of the entry's stated purpose. Judges evaluate the content, structure, and design of each entry, and make an award determination based on the individual entry's strengths and weaknesses and how well it fulfills its purpose. Depending on the category, an entry will be evaluated on how well it provides information appropriate to the task, how well it motivates people to buy or use a product, how well it assists in the process of teaching, how well it provides information about a topic or concept, or how well it helps a user to complete a task.

An entry on the Web is judged as it exists on the day of judging.

 

Competitions Home • Judges Information • Judging Schedule • Judging Application Form
• Categories • Judging Online Communication • Judging Technical Art • Judging Technical Publications
Contacts • FAQs

Corporate Sponsorship • Corporate Sponsors • Previous Sponsors
Membership • Donations Wish List • Scholarships

 
 

Accessibility features
Switch style sheet colors or text: