By Meredith Kinder, Carolina Communiqué Managing Editor


This issue features several articles that highlight our chapter and our members' achievements, so I thought I'd call it our brag book issue. We have a tremendous amount to be proud of! From having a first-rate, technologically advanced newsletter (if I do say so myself!), to being the home of multiple associate fellows and award winners, we should all be proud to be a part of this organization.

In This Issue

Find articles that:

• Describe why Ann-Marie Grissino and Sarah O'Keefe were named STC Associate Fellows
• Emphasize the importance of mentors and offer a first-hand account of what Ann-Marie's mentors mean to her
• Provide a recap of how the online, wiki-based Carolina Communique evolved and won an Award of Excellence in the Newsletters: Web & Online category of the 2008 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence
• Offer a description of the costs associated with DITA
• Outline some cost-saving web conferencing options
• Give a case study of a team approach to information architecture at Duke University
• Show how writing fiction can benefit technical writers

STC Carolina Award Winners

The 2007-2008 Carolina competition award winners are listed at http://www.stc-carolina.org/tiki-index.php?page=2007-8+Awards.

STC Carolina Competition Statistics

You can view statistics (http://www.stc-carolina.org/tiki-index.php?page=Competitions+Statistics) that we have maintained for many years for our chapter's three competitions (Technical Publications, Online Communication, and Technical Art). You can also look at how our competition entries have fared in the international competition. All entries that earned a Distinguished award in our chapter's competition are entered automatically in the international competition.

Sometimes we receive notice about how our entries fared at the international level; sometimes we do not. If you hear about how your entry did at the international level, please contact Ann-Marie Grissino at amgrissino at keypointconsultants dot com so that we can brag about it, too!


Meredith can be reached at newsletter at stc-carolina dot org.