We continue our build toward the Honors Banquet at the 2014 Technical Communication Summit. STC (and technical communication’s) best and brightest are celebrated at the Honor’s Banquet as part of the Summit. Here on STC’s Notebook, we’ll be highlighting a different set of honorees every week on Recognition Monday. Below are this years honorees for the Frank R. Smith Award, with their citations. Attending the Summit and want to help celebrate them in person? Sign up for the Honors Banquet when you register, or email Cheryl Miller if you’ve already registered for the Summit and want to add the Honors Banquet.
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 Avon Murphy, Hanna Jochmann-Mannak, and David Kowalsky.
The judges are pleased to announce that the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Article Award goes to Lisa Meloncon and Sally Henschel for their article, “Current State of U.S. Undergraduate Degree Programs in Technical and Professional Communication” in the February 2013 issue of Technical Communication. The abstract for the honored article states that it “updates Harner and Rich’s 2005 survey of undergraduate degree programs in technical and professional communication (TPC) in the U.S. and provides information about the current number of degree programs, locations of degrees programs, and curricula, both required and elective.”
The citation reads:
For their in-depth, critical review of 65 programs in technical and professional communication in the United States. Their analysis of trends between 2005 and 2011 uses a methodology that makes it easy to replicate their study.
In addition, the judges also named a Distinguished Article for the year. This honor goes to Hans van der Meij and Jan van der Meij for their article, “Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Videos for Software Training” in the August 2013 issue of Technical Communication.
The citation reads:
For enunciating guidelines that can help us produce training videos that lead to increased motivation, proficiency, and retention of skills. The authors validate each guideline by connecting it to major experimental studies and closely analyzed examples of effective videos.
Congratulations to all the honorees.