University of Kansas Award for
Outstanding Technical Writing

The University of Kansas English Department offers an annual writing prize to the author of an outstanding piece of technical documentation written for an English class at the University of Kansas. All KU students - English or other majors, traditional or non-traditional, from either campus - are eligible to submit a work they wrote that year. Teachers and others may submit a piece for a student, as well, but be sure to get permission from your students.

Rules and prizes are listed below.

You might be a student in English 362, English 562, English 563, English 564, or another class where you have written an original technical document. So, what is technical writing? Check out McKitterick's definition of technical communication to help you identify if what you've written is appropriate to submit for the Award.

The Award consists of a $100 check funded by a donation from program director Chris McKitterick. McKitterick is the primary instructor of KU's Technical Communication courses and acts as liaison for technical writing and editing at the University of Kansas.

Each year's winner is announced at the English Department Award Ceremony in mid-May. Below is the list of Award winners:

2010
         Sarah Edgerton for her useful and entertaining instructional guide, "So, You Have Decided to Direct a One-Act."

2009
         Thomas Del Greco for the website he built for Duncan's Karate School and its companion User's Manual.

2008
         Maria Polonchek for her paper, "My Skin from the Inside."

2007
         Jen Humphrey for her proposal to redesign the KU Technical Communication website.

2006
         no award

2005
         Karl Michelbach for his paper, "Record an Album at Home for a Thousand Bucks or Less."

Rules

• Submission deadline varies; check with the KU English Department for details and to get a submission form. Usually the middle of Spring semester. You can find the .pdf instructions for all the English awards online here.
  
• The submission must be a technical document, not a traditional essay. For ideas, check out McKitterick's definition of technical communication.
  
• The submission must have been written for an English class at the University of Kansas during the 12 months prior to the Award's promotion. For example, to win the 2011 Technical Writing Award, the submitted work must have been turned in to a KU English Department class during the Summer 2010, Fall 2010, or Spring 2011 semesters (the Award is announced at the end of the Spring semester). Work turned in to a class after the submission deadline is eligible for the next year's Award.
  
• All KU students - English or other majors, traditional or non-traditional, Kansas residents or non-residents, from either campus - are eligible to submit their work as long as it conforms to the previous rules.
  
• Teachers and others are encouraged to submit a work for a student, as well, with student permission.
  
• No word limit.
  
• Previously published work is okay! Encouraged, even, as long as it meets the above rules.

Prizes

• A check for $100.
  
• Your name and work's title posted here for all to see. If you want to publish it here, as well, we will be happy to do so; however, we always encourage writers to try to sell their work before posting it to the internet.