A Note from STC’s Summit Best of Show Winner

Today we have a guest post by Judy Wyrick to talk about her team's experience winning STC’s 2013-14 International Summit Awards Best of Show.

The Biological and Environmental Research Information System (BERIS) team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is highly honored to have been named STC’s 2013-14 International Summit Awards Best of Show. Yet, we also acknowledge the nearly 25 years of valuable experience and guidance we have received from entering STC technical communication competitions at the chapter and international (if our entries were deemed worthy) levels. Participating in chapter competitions in East Tennessee, Washington DC–Baltimore, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Florida has provided us with a broad range of opinions and competitors in publications, art, and online formats. We very much appreciate the judges’ critiques and comments, and all of them have contributed to our receiving this ultimate award and recognition from our peers.

Each year we review the judges’ professional comments and consider how to use their suggestions to positively impact the organization and presentation of future content, both in print and online. The positive feedback reflected by this award from our peers is evidence to our sponsors at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science that our approach to communication is effective and that our communication products are understandable and usable by their wide-ranging audience of scientists, educators, governmental entities, and interested lay persons and stakeholders. Our DOE customer base has grown from one program in 1989 to many throughout the Office of Science.

Receiving the Best of Show award from STC, the most respected professional society in the technical communications field, will encourage our sponsors to further value our opinions and suggestions as authoritative and knowledge based in the rapidly changing world of communications. Our institutional worth at ORNL is also enhanced with each new award, as DOE and ORNL colleagues perceive and acknowledge the contributions we and other communications specialists make to the scientific world. Management and customers recognize the worthiness of our approach, and this award will further enhance that respect and acknowledgment.

Best of Show exemplifies the worth of our team members’ contributions and our team approach to achieving the high goals we set for the organization and presentation of complex products that begin with multi-origin input from governmental program managers and scientists around the nation and sometimes the world. Each of our members plays a unique role, but backup is always available to continue pursuit of our goals should emergencies occur. The output of the team is definitely more effective than what its individual contributors could make. Our challenge is to continue to use the knowledge gained in producing each product to continue to improve our outcomes, as well as our input to the field of scientific communication. Science without effective communication is only accessible to and understandable by scientists. Our team strives to impart the great importance of scientific knowledge and its impact and applications beyond the scientific community.

Lastly, the Best of Show Award presented the opportunity of attending the conference to accept the award. As an STC member and 2014 conference participant, I was exposed to the expanding world of flexible presentation in the communications world. Sessions I attended gave me insights I could impart to team members regarding new skills and products, technologies and software, and the importance now and necessity in the future for implementation of flexible content. Now nearing the end of my communications career, I was extremely impressed with how wide-ranging and high-tech our community has become. I was honored to be able to accept the award for our multitalented group from a professional society that has long been part of my life and has so bravely and professionally leaped into the next generation of communication.