Presenting the Heidi Thiessen Memorial Awards

by Christy Simard, Student Awards Manager

Allow me to introduce this year's winners of the Heidi Thiessen Memorial Award for student technical writing:

• Third Place: Kim Waalderbos
• Second Place: Vikram Aggarwal
• First Place: Alex Perel

I met Kim and Vikram at the March wine & cheese. They were gracious recipients and really, REALLY impressive people!

Kim Waalderbos

Kim is pursuing a science degree at the University of Guelph. She is more than a fine student—she works a research beat for SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge). With SPARK, Kim writes smartly crafted articles about R&D activities in the cattle biz. Her writing is so clear that reading her work is to immediately understand her.

Vikram Aggarwal

Vikram is a fourth year engineering student at the University of Waterloo. This is not his first recognition for excellence in technical communications. In addition to being a talented writer, Vikram has done well in technical speaking competitions. Vikram's writing talent reflects a solid technical foundation and a seemingly natural persuasion.

Alex Perel

Alex will finish his third co-op term soon and he will then return to the University of Waterloo. He's working on a math degree with a business and finance focus. Alex's entries dissected the complex financial systems behind managing credit for profit. Sounds painful, right? Not from the pen of Alex Perel! He leads you through his subject matter so gently and precisely that you take each step with confidence, always knowing where you've been, and where you are going next.

It was an honour to contact these winners and recognize their talent and hard work! I hope they will find a place within the STC community.

The Volunteers

It is also an honour for me to work with the volunteers who make this award possible. Deb Maskins and Murray Tong provided vital contact with students at the University of Guelph. Our very own PR volunteer, Andrea Braniff did a great poster and kept me moving with publicity. Outstanding volunteer and student, Sarah-Beth Doner, ensured Waterloo students knew about the award. And finally, I thank the judges, all of whom are heavy-weights in their divisions and long-time volunteers within our chapter.

I hope you'll all join me at the June BBQ so we can enjoy the evening together and applaud some great volunteers!

About Christy Simard

Christy manages a team of information developers in Kitchener-Waterloo, where she supports traditional writing jobs, user interface design work, and marketing writing assignments. Her expertise combines an educational background in technical writing with eight years of industry experience.

Christy became a member of the STC in 1998; this is her third year as a volunteer on council.