Rules for all Competitions

Entries are subject to all restrictions listed below, as well as the specific rules for the Online, Technical Art, or Technical Publications competitions. Please see the appropriate section for the competition you wish to enter.

Who is eligible?

Anyone is eligible to submit entries. You do not have to be a member of STC. You may enter work as an individual or on behalf of a colleague or subordinate. The author must consent to the entry.

What can be entered?

Entries must contain sufficient technical, scientific, medical, or similar content to qualify as technical communication. Multilingual entries are acceptable, but one of the languages must be English. All entries are judged in English. Entries must have been originally prepared for and accepted for publication by a client, employer, or publisher.

What awards are given?

• Distinguished Technical Communication (DTC)
• Excellence
• Merit

From the entries that win Distinguished awards, a separate panel of judges may select a Best of Show as an outstanding example of technical communication.

What about the international competition?

Winners of the Distinguished award are automatically entered in STC's international competitions. (The chapter pays the $100 entry fee and submits the entries and forms.) The international award levels are the same as at the local competition. Winners in the international competitions will be notified before the STC annual conference, which takes place each May.

How will entries be judged?

Each entry is evaluated by a panel of three judges. The judges evaluate each entry on its own merits; the entries are not compared to each other.

How will I be notified?

All entries are acknowledged. Whether you win an award or not, you will receive the local judges' evaluations of your entry in December or January. An awards banquet will take place in February 2005 (time and location to be announced). At that time, the awards will be distributed, and all of the winning entries will be on display.

What happens to my entry after the competition?

Please note that submissions will not be returned. If your entry wins a Distinguished award, it will automatically be submitted to the international competition. All other submissions will be donated to local educational programs after the competition is over (unless you request otherwise).

Entry rules for all competitions

• The competition organizers reserve the right to reject any entry for any reason and refund the entry fee.
• Entries must be suitable for public display. Entries that contain classified or proprietary information or that violate copyright laws are not acceptable. It is the responsibility of the submitter, and not of STC, to determine that entries do not contain classified or proprietary information and that the holder of all copyrights has granted permission for the entry's submission. Neither STC nor anyone associated with the competitions can be held responsible for loss of or damage to an entry.
• Materials prepared for STC purposes are not eligible for entry in the competition. Examples of these materials include STC Publications books; articles for Intercom, Tieline, and Technical Communication; and chapter and special interest group (SIG) Web sites, brochures, and newsletters. Chapter and SIG publicity materials can be entered in the STC public relations competition. Chapter and SIG newsletters can be entered in the STC newsletter competition.
• Entries must have been produced or substantially revised within 24 months preceding September 1 of the current year. Entries must have been originally prepared for and accepted for publication by a client, employer, or publisher.
• An entry must not have been entered in a previous STC competition and may not be entered in multiple chapter competitions. (For example, you may not submit an entry to both the Willamette Valley Chapter and the Puget Sound Chapter.)
• However, the same material may be entered in the technical publications and technical art competitions, or the online communication and technical art competitions.
• An entry may be entered in only one category within a competition. For example, a piece of technical art could not be entered into both the packaging design and the promotional materials design categories of the technical art competition. Duplicate entries are disqualified. Judges may re-categorize an entry to a more suitable category than the one in which it was submitted.
• Within a single category, only one entry from the same contributors and from the same parent organization may be submitted, except when the entries are on significantly different topics. Entries that substantially duplicate other entries are not eligible. This rule does not necessarily eliminate online communication entries about the same product or topic on different hardware platforms.
• The submitter (often a superior in the contributors' organization) must certify that the entry represents the actual work of the contributors named on the entry form and that the entry has been cleared for submission. The submitter must also certify that the copyright holder permits the submission of the entry. (Note that the submitter receives official correspondence regarding the entry. The submitter is therefore responsible for all communication with the contributors about the entry and for distributing any awards.)
• Entries created by employees on official time are considered to be the property of the employing firm or agency, which may decide who will be credited. A person who performed substantive work on an entry entered by the employing firm or agency or by another person without credit to the first person has no ground for dispute with STC, but, with the permission of the copyright holder, may enter the same piece with credit to himself or herself. If either entry wins an award, the other entry will receive the same award.

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