Information for Judges

Puget Sound STC Competition and Peer Review

Judging Day has been rescheduled to take place Saturday, December 6 at the University of Washington main campus.

For more information on judging or to volunteer, contact Joe Welinske, jwelinske * at * yahoo.

If you have already submitted your name for judging, you will receive details by email soon.

General Information

Thank you for your interest in assisting our chapter in the 2008-09 Puget Sound Technical Communication Peer Review. The Peer Review offers a wonderful service for technical communicators and provides a great fund-raising mechanism for our chapter. However, it is only possible through the volunteer efforts of technical communicators to act as judges.

This is the first year we are using the label “Peer Review” for this activity. The term has been “Competition” in the past. This activity has always been about evaluating each individual project against a set of international standards. It is not about competing against other projects and we would like to emphasize this to our constituency.

If you are interested in being a judge, please contact Joe Welinske. Joe will ask you for information about your experience and background so we can fit you into the appropriate role. All are welcome to volunteer. Those with more limited backgrounds will be partnered with experienced judges. A variety of perspectives helps to provide the best evaluations.

Regardless of what you are judging, you'll have an opportunity to get a peak at entries in all three competitions - Art, Online, and Publications. We have a lot of interesting projects to look at.

If you volunteer to be on the judging team you are eligible for a $30 reduction in the cost of your own entry in the Peer Review. You can select this option when you fill out your Peer Review Application.

Judging Day

We are continuing to use our Judging Day format that brings us all together for a single day. This provides a more fun and collegial environment and allows us to get the large majority of the judging done in a single day. The Location and Agenda for Judging Day are provided below. We expect fifty plus of your colleagues to be on hand.

Judging at home

There will be a few limited opportunities for judging outside of Judging Day. We will only use this option if we are not able to judge all of the items on Judging Day. This option will only be available for those who have had experience as a judge in past years. Judging at home will take place December 8-10. If you are interested, please contact Joe Welinske for details. jwelinske * at * yahoo

LOCATION

U. of Washington - Seattle Campus, Loew Hall

Directions to UW:

http://www.washington.edu/commuterservices/get_to_uw/maps_directions/index.php

Loew Hall: section O11 on map / Parking: section P8:

http://www.washington.edu/home/maps/northcentral.html

For parking, you may want to enter via the Montlake Avenue gate and ask for lots N-16, N-18, N-20, or N-21. Stairs/escalators lead up to Steven's Way.

Turn left on Steven's. Loew is about two blocks down on the same side of the street. We will reimburse for the $5 parking at the UW lots when you check-in at Loew. The Husky game is in Eugene, so there shouldn't be any parking issues.

AGENDA

All activities take place on the first floor of Loew Hall. Look for signs on the front door.

8:30 - 9:00

Free Continental Breakfast: juice, coffee, tea, bagels, fruit, etc.

Judge Check-in: We will assign you to your entries and introduce you to other members of our judging teams Please arrive by 9:00, at the latest, for the Morning round of judging.

9:00 - 9:30

Judging Orientation

Mike Brazil will highlight some important aspects of the judging process and show examples. Judging guidelines will be sent to all judges prior to Judging day.

9:30 - 12:00

Morning round of judging

Our Peer Review leaders will assist individual judges in getting organized with their entries. New judges and assistants will get additional guidance on the process from the leaders.

12:00 - 1:00

Collection of Morning round judging sheets

Free Lunch: a variety of pizzas, including veggie. Plus beverages.

1:00 - 3:30

Afternoon round of Judging

Break snacks halfway through

3:30 - 4:00

Collection of Afternoon round judging sheets

Discussion (where needed) regarding award levels

4:00 Adjourn