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Publications > Dateline Houston > March 2004 > Feature Article

Volume 43, Issue 5

March 2004

STC Houston Celebrates Another Successful Competition

Jump to award winners:
	Technical Publications
	Online Communication
	Technical Art
See also:
	Banquet Photos

by Phaedra Cook, Director of Competitions

Thanks to 138 entries, 42 volunteers, 9 corporate sponsors, and a wonderfully cooperative partner chapter, STC Houston has just completed another successful Competition.

Competition preparations got off to a rocky start, as we discovered that several large STC chapters were not holding competitions this year. After a great deal of searching, a smaller chapter, Snake River in Idaho, enthusiastically stepped up to the task of judging our large number of entries. Snake River's judges were remarkably in sync with Houston's judges, as both chapters judged all entries strictly by the criteria set down by the STC international organization.

Competitions Award Recap

Of the 138 entries submitted, 65 were selected as award winners by Snake River. Because the Austin Chapter was not holding competitions, entries from Austin were submitted with the Houston Chpater entries. The big winner this year was Yvonne Wade, who won the only Best of Show award for her Online entry, PIMSEE Help. In fact, Houston's online entries were the big story of this competition, as a higher percentage of the entries in this category won awards than in the Technical Publications category.

Eight online entries, including PIMSEE Help, won an award of Distinguished, the highest honor given in the chapter-level competitions. These entries have gone on to the International Competitions and will be considered alongside some of the best technical communication entries in the world.

Houston Art entries were also quite successful this year, with 60 percent of the entries submitted garnering an award.

New Tools

Getting more in tune with the times, we managed many of the Competitions activities online this year. For example, we distributed the Call for Entries as a PDF even before it was mailed out. For the first time this year, STC Houston accepted credit card payments online for the STC Houston Competitions Banquet. Competitions announcements and reminders were posted on the new STC Houston Online Forum (http://forum.stc-houston.org).

Volunteers

Over the past five months, over 42 volunteers assisted with the Competitions and the Banquet, performing tasks ranging from managing individual competitions to creating beautiful, handmade centerpieces for the banquet tables. (A big thanks to Melinda Patrick for using her creativity, talent, and smart shopping for the centerpieces.) While every volunteer's efforts were outstanding, a few went above and beyond the call of duty and received special recognition at the banquet:

Linda King was our General Manager this year. Thorough and organized, Linda managed to keep all the little details under control and used her excellent management skills to help us meet all of our important milestones.
Erika Frensley took over the Banquet Manager position after a previous volunteer backed out at the last minute. Undaunted by the short period remaining for preparations, Erika did a stunning job with the banquet. Erika also set up the STC Web site so that, for the first time ever, we could accept reservations and credit card payments for banquet admissions online.
Cindy Pao served as the Technical Publications Competition Manager this year, in addition to her normal Vice President duties for the STC Houston Council. Cindy even managed to graciously "convince" her husband Paul to be our banquet photographer this year.
Deborah Silvi, who was General Manager for the 2002-03 Competitions, was recognized not only for her continuing volunteer work, but also for the solid groundwork she laid last year and her availability as a mentor.

A Competitions Brand

The STC Houston Competitions are always exciting, but this year marked a remarkable harmony of elements. The STC Houston colors this year were burgundy and gray. Jennifer Ruyle with Aesbus Knowledge Solutions started with these two colors and added a silver accent when she designed the "Providing Value" program year theme logo. The same color scheme was carried through in all of our Competitions design efforts—from the Call for Entries mailed last September, to the black napkins, silver tablecloths, and burgundy chairs at the banquet. Jennifer was recognized for her outstanding contributions to this year's graphic identity, including designing the Call for Entries, banquet invitation, RSVP card, envelopes, and sponsor poster. All other design elements were created to follow the standards established by Jennifer's work.

Technical Publications Awards

Category	Title	Award	Contributor Name (Contributor Company)
Promotional Materials	HP Lifecycle Kit	Excellence	Kelly Wheeler (Jump2 Group) Dale Blackmon (Jump2 Group) Diana Jaques (Jump2 Group)
	Kitba Gamut Brochure	Excellence	Kitba Media Solutions Consulting Services, Inc.
	Halliburton Service Tools Catalog	Merit	Kitba Documentation Solutions
Informational Materials	PCI Bus Implementation in HP ProLiant Servers	Excellence	Bob Nicholson (Jump2 Group) Moe Guertin (Hewlett-Packard)
	Best Practices for Integrated Lights-Out	Merit	Cynthia Ramirez (Jump2 Group) Linda King (Hewlett-Packard)
	Halliburton Completion Solutions Catalog	Merit	Kitba Documentation Solutions
	ProLiant BL p-Class System Technology	Merit	Cynthia Ramirez (Marketing Studio, Inc.) Linda King (Hewlett-Packard)
	Tips and Tricks for eDirectory	Merit	Kerry Britt (Jump2 Group) Crystal Rawls (Hewlett-Packard)
Quick Reference Guides	HP Compaq Notebook Series Getting Started	Excellence	Melissa Britt Dianne Fielden (Hewlett-Packard)
	HP iPAQ Pocket PC h4000 Series Getting Started	Merit	Carey Gregg (The Integrity Group) Ana Ferragut (The Integrity Group) Emily Perlman (The Integrity Group)
	M-Series Rack Rail Option Installation Instructions	Merit	Aesbus Knowledge Solutions
	SmartDBA Performance Solutions for DB2 Universal Database Quick Installation Guide	Merit	Emily Kaplan (BMC) Kelly Holcomb (BMC)
Software User Guides	EXTENDED BUFFER MANAGER User Guide: Snapshot Processing	Excellence	Vickeylynne Morrow (BMC) Joanne Saathoff (BMC)
	IBM Scalable Systems Manager 4.11 Installation and User's Guide	Excellence	Ramona Hendren (IBM)
	PATROL Express User Guide (Version 3.0)	Excellence	Melody Locke (BMC) Melanie Boston (BMC)
	CATALOG MANAGER for DB2 User Guide	Merit	Alfred Watkins (BMC) Kris Horgen (BMC)
	Directory Security Administrator User Guide	Merit	Lee S. Turner (NetIQ) Veronica Acevedo
	IBM Director 4.11 Installation and Configuration Guide	Merit	Kristen James Eberlein (IBM) Karen L. Mobley (IBM)
	Receivables Master User's Guide	Merit	Royce Hoggan (Lewis, Inc.) Mary Knobloch (Lewis, Inc.)
	RECOVERY MANAGER for DB2 User Guide	Merit	Janice Hamrick (BMC) Joanne Saathoff (BMC)
	Space Expert for DB2 Universal Database Getting Started	Merit	Linda Davis (BMC) Jim Middleton (BMC) Kelly Holcomb (BMC)
	SQL-BackTrack for Microsoft SQL Server Getting Started	Merit	Mary Gwynne (BMC) Joanne Saathoff
	Utility Products for DB2 Trialing Guide	Merit	Beth Roddin (BMC)
Computer Hardware Guides	VSX 7000 Administrator's Guide	Merit	Jan Child (Polycom, Inc.) Karen Mulholland (Polycom, Inc) Carol Marsh Hobday (Polycom, Inc.)
Training Materials	Train the Trainer	Excellence	Kitba Learning Solutions
Documentation Sets	The NetIQ Security Manager 4.0 Library	Excellence	April McAnespy (NetIQ) Jewel Darby (NetIQ) Susan Tacker (NetIQ) Eric Mallory (NetIQ)
	VSX 7000 Documentation Set	Excellence	Karen Mulholland (Polycom, Inc.) Jan Child (Polycom, Inc) Carol Hobday (Polycom, Inc) Mona Cocciardi
	HP Compaq Business Desktop user Documentation d530 Ultra-Slim Desktop Model	Merit	Holly Jahangiri (Hewlett-Packard) Martha McGee (Hewlett-Packard) Sherri Smith (Hewlett-Packard) Karen Joers (Jump2 Group) Greg Costanzi (Independent)

Online Communication Awards

Category	Title	Award	Contributor Name (Contributor Company)
Help	PIMSEE Help	Distinguished and Best of Show	Yvonne Wade (AspenTech)
	Dell Dimension 2350 Microsoft Windows XP Operating System Reinstallation Guide	Distinguished	Alfonso Davila (Dell Inc.) Wayne Schmiesing (Dell Inc.) Kristina Young (Dell Inc.)
	Help for xThink Calculator	Excellence	Teresa Shu (xThink Inc.) xThink Team (xThink Inc.)
	PATROL Express 3.0.00 Online Help	Excellence	Melody Locke (BMC) Karen Farrell (BMC)
	HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools Help	Merit	Aesbus Knowledge Solutions Ken Holtgrewe (Aesbus Knowledge Solutions)
	Policy Inventory Reconciliation 2.0 Help	Merit	Melissa Britt (LANDATA Systems, Inc.)
	Space Expert for Oracle Help	Merit	Jim Middleton (BMC) Linda Davis (BMC) Kelly Holcomb
	System Explorer for z/OS Help	Merit	Mary Cameron (BMC) Kris Horgen (BMC) Cathi Biagi (BMC)
Demonstrations	High Density Server Deployment Video	Distinguished	Cynthia Ramirez (Bayou City Productions) Julie Saurage (Hewlett-Packard) Bayou City Productions
	HP Linux Clustering Technology Demonstration	Distinguished	Cynthia Ramirez (Bayou City Productions) Julie Saurage (Hewlett-Packard) Bayou City Productions
	HP ProLiant BL Line Technology Demonstration CD	Distinguished	Lisa Harlan (Bayou City Productions) Julie Saurage (Hewlett-Packard) Bayou City Productions
	Information is Power!	Excellence	BMC Software ESM Information Design & Development BMC Software EDM Information Design & Development BMC Software Media Production
	Sequence Stratigraphic Models for Exploration and Production	Excellence	Gail Bergan (Bergan et al., Inc.) Leann Wagerle (Bergan et al., Inc.) Norman Rosen (GCSSEPM Foundation)
	IBM UpdateXpress	Merit	Heath Sides (IBM) Rebecca Postupack-Slifer (IBM)
Technical Marketing	Directory Security Administrator Quick Preview	Excellence	Lee S. Turner (NetIQ) Eric Mallory (NetIQ) Paul Mueller (NetIQ)
	Spectrum Quality Standards Web site	Merit	Kitba Media Solutions
Tutorials/Training	HP StorageWorks Enterprise Backup Solution Design Guide	Merit	Aesbus Knowledge Solutions
	HP Tablet PC Tutorial	Merit	Diana Jaques (Jump2 Group) Howard Lee (Jump2 Group) Kelly Wheeler (Jump2 Group) Paul Gross (Jump2 Group) Sophia Hinga
	SBM Imodco Offshore Group Management System Tutorial	Merit	Chris Fenner (The Integrity Group) Shauna Allison (The Integrity Group) David Cobb (The Integrity Group)
Books	HP Smart Array 641/642 Controller User Guide	Distinguished	John Turner (The Integrity Group) The Integrity Group
	HP StorageWorks Model 4400 Family of Ultra320 SCSI Disk Enclosures User Guide	Distinguished	John Turner (The Integrity Group) The Integrity Group
	Policy Inventory Reconciliation 2.0 User Guide	Distinguished	Melissa Britt (LANDATA Systems, Inc.)
	PATROL for WebSphere MQ Installation Guide	Excellence	Terry Lambert (BMC)
	Style Guide for Technical Publications	Excellence	BMC Software Editors (BMC)
	Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Paleoecology, Texas and Mexico: Perkins Memorial Volume	Merit	Gail Bergan (Bergan et al., Inc.) Leann Wagerle (Bergan et al., Inc.) Norman Rosen (GCSSEPM Foundation)
	HP Compaq Notebook Series Hardware Guide	Merit	Melissa Britt Dianne Fielden (Hewlett-Packard)
	HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools Getting Started Guide	Merit	Aesbus Knowledge Solutions Ken Holtgrewe (Aesbus Knowledge Solutions)
	Small Business Technology Magazine	Merit	Antony Nispel (Small Business Technology Institute) Andrea Peiro (Small Business Technology Institute)

Technical Art Awards

Category	Title	Award	Contributor Name (Contributor Company)
Manual/Book Design	COTCO Terminal Information Manual	Excellence	Kitba Media Solutions
Magazine Design	Small Business Technology Magazine	Merit	Antony Nispel (Small Business Technology Institute) Andrea Peiro
Promotional Poster Design	NEON Enterprise Software 2004 Calendar	Excellence	Carla Pileggi (NEON Enterprise Software) Robin Reddick (NEON Enterprise Software)
	Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center Poster	Merit	Kitba Media Solutions
Informational Poster Design	Compaq ProLiant ML350 Generation 3 Quick Start Poster (2/2002 edition)	Merit	James Yurick (Houstek Solutions Group, Inc.) Alan Olsen (Hewlett-Packard) Kelly Vernon (Houstek Solutions Group, Inc.)
Packaging Design	Gamut Packaging Design	Excellence	Kitba Media Solutions
Promotional Materials Design	New Technologies and General Capabilities Design	Excellence	Kitba Media Solutions
Informational Materials Design	Halliburton Perforating Solutions Catalog	Excellence	Kitba Media Solutions
Display	NEON Enterprise Software Trade Show Booth	Excellence	Robin Reddick (NEON Enterprise Software) Alex Garcia (Skyline Displays of Houston)

Banquet Photos

Bill Gearhart and Donna Marcotte review award-winning entries.

Left to right: Linda Oestreich, Region 5 Director-Sponsor; Deborah Silvi, Associate Fellow & past STC Houston president; and Janese Parks, past volunteer resources director.

Left to right: Lori Buffum, Master of Ceremonies for the event; Melissa Britt; Beverly Rogers; and Linda King, Competitions General Manager.

Left to right: Phaedra Cook, Competitions Director; Erika Frensley, Banquet Program Manager; and Chuck Cook, husband of Phaedra.

Volume 43, Issue 5

March 2004