2009 APCUG Newsletter, Web and Photo Contest Winners
The APCUG announced to the User Groups in December, 2008 that it was sponsoring
a APCUG Newsletter, Web and
Photo Contest. The contest ran from January 1st
through January 31st. We also announced that the contest was to be managed
differently in that all submissions would be posted to the APCUG SharePoint
site. Additionally, we also eliminated the user group size as part of the
judging criteria for the Newsletter and Web submissions. Judges were selected in
February. You can see all the entries just by logging into SharePoint and look
under Shared Documents/APCUG 2009 Newsletter, Web and Photo Contests. There were
15 Newsletter entries, 22 web entries and 97 Photo entries.
The APCUG board extends its thanks to the judges Judy Taylour, Charlotte Semple
(Newsletter), Doris Collins, Patty Lowry (Web),
Don Singleton and Paula Sanders (Photo) who graciously donated
their time and energy in selecting the winners.
Here are the Judges comments regarding submitted newsletters:
In addition to keeping your members informed about what’s happening with the group and educating them on what’s new with technology, newsletters should be thought of as publicity for your group and contain information so someone reading one they find on your website (or pickes up at meeting) gives them a lot of info about your group.
Include area code / zip code / map / directions to meeting
Online newsletters = 1 column = easier to read
If 2 or 3 columns, make sure there is enough white space between columns. Decrease outside margins, if necessary.
Include a Table of Contents
Include title of member author to make it easier for UGs to use an article from your newsletter. Including member author info shows that the article wasn’t found in some other publication such as a tech magazine, tech e-mail, etc.
Include membership application or renewal form + a list of benefits why someone should join / renew their membership. Keep letting them know the benefits of belonging to your group.
Include a meeting recap in the newsletter the month after the meeting and send the issue to the vendor who was at the meeting. Matt McCann always said that it’s important to do this so the presenter can show his/her supervisor how the presentation was appreciated, etc.
Would be great if SIG leaders or attendees could be trained to write a short paragraph about the SIG meeting to let other members know what they can learn by attending the SIG.
Graphics – don’t use too many but sometimes all words makes for a boring article.
Use same font & size throughout newsletter. Be consistent – Headings = 1 size, subheadings = 1 size, etc. block all text or use ragged edge for all text.
2009 Web Contest Winners:
1st Place - Quad-Cities Computer Society (www.qcs.org)
