April meeting recap: And the award goes to...

by Debbie Kerr, President

Our April meeting was our annual networking meeting. The meeting was held in DC1301 (The Fishbowl - because of its glass walls) at the University of Waterloo. This is the meeting where we hand out awards and get to know our fellow members. During the evening, we presented the following awards: Distinguished Chapter Service Award (DCSA), chapter competition awards, and the Heidi Thiessen Memorial Award for students.

Distinguished Chapter Service Award

This award can be given to any member of a chapter except for the current voting members of the chapter or members who have previously won the award. Chapters are expected to consider the consistency and variety of service.

This year, the award was given to Leanne Rollins, who has met both criteria extremely well. The following a list of her accomplishments with this chapter:

• Competition Manager 1998-2000 (2 years)
• Competition Judge 1998-2000, 2006-2007 (3 years)
• Hospitality Manager 2000-2001 (1 year)
• Membership Manager 2004-2006 (2 years)
• Education Manager 2006-2007 (1 year)

There were also testimonials from several members who have worked with Leanne either on the council or in a work setting. Here are some phrases that appeared in those testimonials:

• Leanne tackles each project with enthusiasm and a can-do attitude.
• She cheerfully solves problems and resolutely marches forward.
• She inspires confidence in her fellow council members who know that she will complete her tasks on time and in above-average fashion.
• She takes on a challenge and finds solutions - making the proverbial lemonade every time, never missing a deadline, or opportunity for improvement.
• She launched leading-edge tools to increase the group's efficiency and efficacy, and established processes to standardize communication and teamwork.

For all of these reasons, the citation on her award reads, "For your constant ability to exceed expectations in your support of the Southwestern Ontario Chapter STC."

Congratulations, Leanne!

Chapter Competition Awards

This year we ran our chapter publication competition through the Toronto Chapter.

The entries could be submitted as online communication, technical art, or technical publication. Three judges reviewed each entry and decided on what award to give. These awards were based on very specific criteria. They also provided feedback about the merits and areas of improvement for each entry. The following people (both members and non-members) won awards:

• Lori McKenzie and Christine McKarney (joint entry)
• Christine McKarney
• Fei Min Lorente, Ken Dyk, David Kennedy, and Mark Melvin (multiple contributors for one entry)
• Jody Frederick

Christine and Lori's joint submission won the Distinguished Technical Communication and Best of Show awards. For this reason, the submission was forwarded for inclusion in the same competition, but at an international level.

Congratulations to all of our local winners - you make us proud!

Student Awards

Each year we have a competition for students who:

• Are in 3rd or 4th year at the University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, and University of Western Ontario.
• Provide an official school transcript that identifies that they have a minimum of a 75% average.
• Write a letter explaining why they should receive the award.
• Provide two examples of technical writing

This year awards were presented to: First Place - Angela Cheng (University of Waterloo), Second Place - Amanda Pileggi (University of Waterloo), and Third Place - Lauren Dye (University of Western Ontario).

Thanks to all who participated - great work!

Other Winners

I would like to think that everyone who attended the meeting was a winner, just for being there. It was great to talk to a lot of people and the food was fabulous.

About Debbie Kerr

In the 20 years that Debbie has been writing documentation, she has worked in a variety of industries: government, retail, software, and insurance. She is currently employed at The Economical Insurance Group in Waterloo, where she has stepped out of her traditional role of writing user guides and help files, and now writes a variety of specifications.

Debbie has been a member of the STC since 1994 and has been a council member for many years. For the third year in a row, Debbie has bravely taken on the role of Chapter President.