List punctuation and STC pubs competitions

[LaVonna Funkhouser <lffunkhouser -at- HALNET -dot- COM>]

Combining the threads from two recent posts, I submit
this true story.

My supervisor entered a technical product brochure into
our local STC publication competition.  The brochure was
effective, and he was proud of it.  Admittedly,
not every entry will receive an award, but one does expect
to receive some valuable comments from the judges.  (The
entries were swapped with those from another state's competition
so the judging could be more impartial.)

The entry did not receive an award, but here are our real
peeves:

My first peeve is that his entry was judged by only one
judge, not three as should be the case.

My second peeve is that the following is all that was
written under "Suggestions for improvement":

"Use colons before group of listings; for example,
'...XYZ samplers are:
  * Able to...
  * Equipped for...'"

The colon after a verb is *not* considered correct by
most references.  Therefore, his brochure was
inappropriately downgraded, IMHO.

BTW, I do still believe in the STC pubs comps.  My chapter will
probably not be swapping with that particular other chapter this
year, however.

Perhaps I should turn this into a positive and start a new
thread:  What could we (STC) do to improve the local and
international pubs and art competitions?

LaVonna Funkhouser
lffunkhouser -at- halnet -dot- com