Theodore C. Hines Award for Exceptional Service to the American Society for Indexing, 2013
The 2013 Hines Award was presented to Jan C. Wright. The nominators included her co-chairs and colleagues from the ASI Digital Trends Task Force (DTTF), the ASI Board liaison to the DTTF, ASI's representatives to the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), fellow indexing course instructors, her own first indexing course instructor and a student of one of the courses she taught. Nominators highlighted her comprehensive commitment to ASI demonstrated through Jan's numerous ASI Chapter and Conference presentations, outreach and presentations to sister indexing societies, involvement in the beginning days of the Pacific Northwest Chapter, leadership of the A to Z Chapter, teaching of USDA and UC Berkeley Extension courses, development of demonstrations and scripts for ASI presentations to publishers, editors, and technical writers, and articles on technical indexing. In 2009 Jan was also awarded the ASI/H.W. Wilson Award for excellence for her indexing of Real World Adobe InDesign CS3.
Jan's exemplary leadership of the DTTF has produced a long list of accomplishments on behalf of the indexing profession. She made new industry contacts that began with a presentation at the 2012 O'Reilly Tools of Change conference. She forged a strong link between ASI and the IDPF which resulted in the formation of and respected work of the Indexes Working Group. Jan's perseverance and leadership have been instrumental in bringing the American Society for Indexing front and center of the discussion about the future of indexes in epubs.
ASI/H.W. Wilson Award for Excellence in Indexing, 2009
The 2009 Wilson Award was presented to Jan Wright for her index to Real World Adobe InDesign CS3, by Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner and published by Peachpit Press. It is the first time a technical manual has won the award! The Wilson Award Committee was impressed by the detailed level of granularity at which the index was written. Every conceivable utility, button, dialog box and menu item was covered in the index. In addition to the granularity, the coverage of the index was exhaustive. There did not appear to be a single concept in the text that was not appropriately covered in the index. Also, as is so important in a technical manual's index, not only were software features indexed, but actions were as well. That allows users to find information on how to use features not just descriptions of them. Index entries were appropriately double- or even triple-posted, ensuring multiple access points to information. The index was written in a concise, direct style, resulting in an index with a scientific elegance. Generally short lines, along with a layout that used lots of white space made for easy reading, even at the relatively small font size. Finally, the authors' use of humor was consistently represented in the index, which is not always an easy thing to carry off.
The index can be browsed at Amazon. Use the "Look Inside This Book" feature, and you can browse the index.
Society for Technical Communication awards
The 2013 Hines Award was presented to Jan C. Wright. The nominators included her co-chairs and colleagues from the ASI Digital Trends Task Force (DTTF), the ASI Board liaison to the DTTF, ASI's representatives to the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), fellow indexing course instructors, her own first indexing course instructor and a student of one of the courses she taught. Nominators highlighted her comprehensive commitment to ASI demonstrated through Jan's numerous ASI Chapter and Conference presentations, outreach and presentations to sister indexing societies, involvement in the beginning days of the Pacific Northwest Chapter, leadership of the A to Z Chapter, teaching of USDA and UC Berkeley Extension courses, development of demonstrations and scripts for ASI presentations to publishers, editors, and technical writers, and articles on technical indexing. In 2009 Jan was also awarded the ASI/H.W. Wilson Award for excellence for her indexing of Real World Adobe InDesign CS3.
Jan's exemplary leadership of the DTTF has produced a long list of accomplishments on behalf of the indexing profession. She made new industry contacts that began with a presentation at the 2012 O'Reilly Tools of Change conference. She forged a strong link between ASI and the IDPF which resulted in the formation of and respected work of the Indexes Working Group. Jan's perseverance and leadership have been instrumental in bringing the American Society for Indexing front and center of the discussion about the future of indexes in epubs.
ASI/H.W. Wilson Award for Excellence in Indexing, 2009
The 2009 Wilson Award was presented to Jan Wright for her index to Real World Adobe InDesign CS3, by Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner and published by Peachpit Press. It is the first time a technical manual has won the award! The Wilson Award Committee was impressed by the detailed level of granularity at which the index was written. Every conceivable utility, button, dialog box and menu item was covered in the index. In addition to the granularity, the coverage of the index was exhaustive. There did not appear to be a single concept in the text that was not appropriately covered in the index. Also, as is so important in a technical manual's index, not only were software features indexed, but actions were as well. That allows users to find information on how to use features not just descriptions of them. Index entries were appropriately double- or even triple-posted, ensuring multiple access points to information. The index was written in a concise, direct style, resulting in an index with a scientific elegance. Generally short lines, along with a layout that used lots of white space made for easy reading, even at the relatively small font size. Finally, the authors' use of humor was consistently represented in the index, which is not always an easy thing to carry off.
The index can be browsed at Amazon. Use the "Look Inside This Book" feature, and you can browse the index.
Society for Technical Communication awards
- Excellence Award in Technical Publications, 2007
- Two Merit Awards in Technical Publications, 2007
- Three Distinguished Awards in Technical Publications, 2002
- Three Excellence Awards in Technical Publications, 2002
- Distinguished Award in Online Help Communication, 2000
- Merit Award in Online Help Communication, 1997
- Excellence Award in Software User Guides, 1995
- Distinguished Award and Best of Show in Online Help systems, 1995
- Excellence Award in Software User Guides, 1994
- Excellence Award in Software Combination User and Reference Guides, 1994
- Achievement Award in Software User Guides, 1994
- Merit Award in Software User Guides, 1993
- Merit Award in Software Combination User and Reference Guides, 1993
- Excellence Award in Software User Guides, 1993
- Excellence Award in Software User Guides, 1991
- Distinguished Award in Software User Guides, 1990
- Achievement Award in Design Graphics, 1989
- Merit Award in Software User Guides, 1988
Contact Wright Information at jancw@wrightinformation.com.