1 STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006 The 10 Commandments of Judging Paul Stregevsky
Jan 11, 2015
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
The 10 Commandments of Judging
Paul Stregevsky
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
1. “Before thou judgeth an entry, readeth its entry form.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: Right:
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve seen one entry form, you’ve seen them all.”
“It says the author had to use the big boss’s Foreword verbatim. I’d better go gently on grammar and style.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
2. “Judgeth not an entry by its cover; nor by its Foreword; nor by its Table of Contents; nor by its nationality, but by the sum of the parts.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: Right:“‘Forward’! Stupid foreigners! This one’s a loser!” “‘Forward’? I
guess they don’t emphasize
spelling in their ESL classes. I must say, his
grammar is impeccable.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
3. “Thou shalt writeth detailed comments, citing examples and references.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: “The style seemed awkward; some procedures were unclear.”
Right: “At times, the passive voice made it difficult to know who’s to do what. On p. 16, for example, we find:If the alarm “trips,” it must be reset.
“Reset by the user? A technician? Or either one?”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
4. “Chooseth thine words kindly; offereth specific ways to improve; for not all that is thought must be writ.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: “The formatting is amateurish, with insufficient white space, equally spaced headings, and ill-chosen fonts.”
Right: “Consider using wider left and right margins; your readers will be grateful. To help readers scan your headings, try using twice as much space before each heading and a sans serif font, such as blue Arial Bold to contrast the body text.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
5. “Reveal not your impressions to thy fellow judges, lest they hesitate to disagree.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: Right:“Hey, before you judge that online tutorial from Capital, make sure you have Maalox handy; you’ll need it.”
“What did I think of the
tutorial? I’ll be glad to talk
about it after you’ve finished
writing your evaluation.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
6. “Verbally explain thy numerical scores.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
“See comments.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
7. “Judgeth not with thy head, nor with thy heart, but verily, with head, heart, and ear as one.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: Right:“I had to assign low marks for formatting and navigation. Too bad that clever illustrations and graceful, engaging writing aren’t judging criteria.”
“That was fun. True, I had to score it low in several categories. But it was a joy to read; I couldn’t put it down! In my book, that makes it at least a Merit winner.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
8. “Thou shalt check thy spelling; check thy grammar; check thy punctuation; check thy pagination; or judge not; for all that ye deliver shall reflect good or ill on the Society.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: “I dont undestand why Section Two is formated differently than Section 1.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
9. “Thou shalt contact not the entrant, no matter how noble thy reason.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Dear Entrant: “I was judging your STC entry when a glaring typo caught my eye on page 6. I hope there’s time to correct it before your next release. If you need a full-time copy editor, I’m available.”
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
10.“At the Consensus Meeting, thou shalt bargain, not bully.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky
Wrong: Right:
This entry sucks! There’s no way I’m letting the two of you give her an award.”
To be honest, I still don’t feel she deserves an award. But since both of you
feel she deserves “Excellent,” can we compromise on “Merit”?
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STC WDC 2006–2007 Competitions Judges’ Pickup Meeting, November 11, 2006
11.“Delay not until the final days, or verily, the hours will be too few.”
The 10 Commandments of Judging—Paul Stregevsky