Technical Publications Categories

We have adopted the new International categories to ensure the best alignment between the local and International competitions. If your entry does not neatly fit into only one of these categories, please contact the Competition Administrator by email or by phone (401-845-2447) for assistance.

The Technical Publications competition accepts only physical media as entries.

Category #1: Reports: Includes annual reports and technical reports.

• Annual Reports are publications that summarize the activities or financial position of corporations, government agencies, or nonprofit community organizations. “Annual Reports” includes reports that comply with the regulations of government agencies, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as reports of unregulated, nonprofit organizations.
  
• Technical Reports report on scientific or technical efforts, usually aimed at the professional community or a contracting agency.

Category #2: Books: Includes bound, printed matter usually sold to the public through a bookseller. For this competition, a book is defined as a lengthy document covering one technical subject that is intended for sale to the public.

Category #3: Reference Materials: Includes training materials, documentation sets, all manuals, quick reference guides, and organizational manuals.

• Training materials include student guides, tutorials, workbooks, and instructor guides, or sets of these pieces.
• Documentation sets are intended to be a single unit, and are typically packaged together. Examples include, but are not limited to, software documentation sets, multivolume reference materials.
• Manuals include: Software Guides, Hardware/Software Combination Guides, Computer Hardware Guides, and Non‐computer Equipment Guides.
• Quick reference guides provide ready reference to features and functions about a product or service. The emphasis is on presenting essential information concisely and in a way that it is quick and easy to find. They often contain graphic devices and other job aids to help fulfill their purpose.
• Organizational manuals include, but are not limited to employee manuals, policy and procedure manuals, and style guides.

Category #4: Periodicals: Includes magazines, newsletters, and scholarly and professional journals. You must submit three consecutive issues as a single entry.

• Magazines appear as serial publications that are covered and bound. Magazines have features and regular columns in an established format that people recognize. Advertising may or may not be included. They are controlled by identifiable publishers or owners and served by editorial staff. Magazines can contain news and information about an organization, technology, industry, or scientific field. They can serve either an internal, external, special interest, or general public audience.
• Newsletters are regularly scheduled publications with brief articles and a flexible format. They generally have lower budgets and fewer pages than magazines, and may or may not have photographs and illustrations. Newsletters are generally about a company's employees or products, and they may be intended for an internal or external audience. Their primary purpose is to deliver information that, at the same time, will interest the reader and promote the interests of the sponsor.
• Scholarly/professional journals appear as serial publications that are covered and bound, with features and regular columns in established formats that people recognize. Advertising may or may not be included. They are controlled by identifiable publishers and served by editorial staff. Writing style may tend to be relatively formal, and design creativity may be limited, in keeping with standards defined by expectations of the profession. Journals are usually targeted for a limited and specialized audience and typically contain information about research and developments in a particular discipline or profession.

Category #5: Articles: Includes scholarly articles, professional articles, and trade or news articles.

• Scholarly/professional articles are single articles appearing in academic or professional journals or in a scholarly book as an original contribution of knowledge.
• Trade/news articles are single articles appearing in trade journals or general interest periodicals and are not original contributions of knowledge.

Category #6: Technical Marketing Support: Includes informational materials and promotional materials.

• Informational materials are designed to attract potential buyers while providing information about a technical or scientific subject, product, service, or organization. The materials must persuade the audience favorably toward the subject or sponsor. Visual design, including production, is very important. So, too, is editing, because errors are very obvious.
• Promotional materials market a technical product, service, or organization. They include advertisements, flyers, brochures, catalogs, and other presales literature. The materials must persuade the audience to some action, using integrated text and figures. Visual design, including production, is very important. So, too, is editing, because errors are very obvious.