The Frank R. Smith outstanding journal article award and distinguished journal article award recognizes the authors of exceptional articles in the Technical Communication journal during a calendar year. The awards honor the memory of Frank R. Smith, who established Technical Communication as the flagship publication of STC and the profession during his 18-year tenure as the journal’s editor. The award was established in 1995, the year Frank R. Smith retired, and has been a mainstay of STC’s annual recognitions of excellence since.
The awardees will be officially recognized at the 2024 STC Technical Communication Summit Honors Event in Bloomington, MN.
This year’s winner of the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Article Award is Alisa Bonsignore, for the tutorial “It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s How You Say It: Mitigating the Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Effective Content” in the February 2023 issue of Technical Communication.
The citation reads:
For a topical tutorial that urges technical communicators to consider the energy costs of their content strategies. The author demonstrates how high-energy content choices can run counter to plain language and provides tools so that content strategists can reconsider carbon emissions across content design and governance processes. The tutorial opens timely conversations about the materiality and justice of content strategy.
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This year’s winners of the Frank R. Smith Distinguished Article Award are Lin Dong and Zhujin Gao, for the article “Who Are China’s Technical Communicators? A Survey on the State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of the Profession” in the August 2023 issue of Technical Communication.
The citation reads:
For an exploratory study that paints a well-researched portrait of technical communication in China, providing a better understanding of issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the under-studied profession. The authors open doors to better recognize the contributions, challenges, and needs among China’s technical communicators and expand understanding of DEI in technical communication to include non-Western views.
Many thanks to the Frank R. Smith Award Committee: Daniel Hocutt (Chair), Art Berger, Nora K. Rivera, Stacey Pigg, Josie Walwema, and Guiseppe Getto.