Each year, the Editor of Technical Communication appoints a judging committee to select the outstanding article from the previous year’s issues. Judges base their decisions on article content and form. The award honors the memory of Frank R. Smith, during whose 18-year tenure as editor, Technical Communication became established as the flagship publication of STC and the profession. This year’s judging team for the Frank R. Smith competition consisted of Tom Warren (chair), Han Yu, and Jeff Hibbard.
The judges are pleased to announced that the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Article Award goes to Tatiana Batova for her article, “Writing for the Participants of International Clinical Trials: Law, Ethics, and Culture,” in the August 2010 issue of Technical Communication. The introduction for the honored article states, “The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of legal and cultural contexts on participant-directed informed consent documentation. Such examination will help technical communicators make informed consent documentation more user-centered.”
The citation reads:
For offering insightful discussion and lessons-learned regarding clinical trials across cultures; covering a region (Russia) and area (clinical trials) not much examined in current intercultural technical communication studies; and for raising serious issues that extend to all cross-cultural communication. Inclusion of future research needs is a positive, not only for academics but also for technical communication professionals. Very informative on a topic that is important both professionally and socially. Well written for the total STC audience, with obvious and thorough scholarship and research.
In addition, the judges also named two Distinguished Articles for the year. First is Lisa Meloncon, Erin Haynes, Megan Varelmann, and Lisa Groh for their article, “Building a Playground: General Guidelines for Creating Educational Web Sites for Children” in the November 2010 issue. The citation reads:
For offering useful and practical guidelines for developing websites for children that fill a current gap in website usability studies. The article shows rigorous and well distilled research with relevant examples and case reviews.
The second Distinguished Article honor goes to Nicole St. Germaine-McDaniel for “Technical Communication in the Health Fields: Executive Order 13166 and Its Impact on Translation and Localization” in the August 2010 issue. Nicole’s citation reads:
For offering findings in intercultural health communication, an important area in intercultural technical communication, and for offering practitioners some best practices. An especially good model for those wanting to understand how government regulations influence technical communication.
Congratulations to all the honorees.
