Winners Selected For 2006 ABC Student Writing Contest

The Student Awards Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the fifth annual ABC Writing Contest:

• 1st place: Kimberly Holker, University of Florida; Fiona Barnes, instructor
• 2nd place: Debra Ritter, DeVry University; Barbara Hamilton, instructor
• 3rd place: Christopher Laden, University of Florida; Fiona Barnes, instructor

As 1st place winner, Ms. Holker will receive $300; as 2nd place winner, Ms. Ritter will receive $200; and as 3rd place winner, Mr. Laden will receive $100. These awards are made possible through the continuing generosity of authors Mary Munter and Paul Argenti and publisher Houghton Mifflin. We are grateful for these donors’ contributions and we thank them for supporting exemplary student writing.

The contest was open to undergraduate business students who worked independently to write a response to this year’s case and whose entries were submitted by their instructors. The selection process was a rigorous one. First, all student entries were coded so readers would not know the identity of the student authors, instructors, or schools. Next, five ABC Student Awards Committee members worked independently to read and rank all entries and identify their most highly regarded entries. Finally, six business professionals also worked independently to read and rank the most highly regarded entries and to identify the contest winners. All readers used a holistic scale similar to that used for the GMAT to rank entries.

The case study for the 2005-06 contest was adapted from a case written by Gayle Vogt, PhD, at California State University, Fullerton, CA - thank you Gayle, for submitting another compelling case. Entrants responded to the case with two documents: (1) a one-page memo to the Vice President of Public Affairs for Kraft Foods, Inc. detailing a strategy for responding to negative media attention about Kraft and its products; and (2) a memo to the writer’s instructor describing the rationale for the response (used for information only; not evaluated).

ABC Student Awards Committee

• Cindy Drexel, Western State College of Colorado
• Deborah Roebuck, Kennesaw State University
• Ann S. Wilson, Stephen F. Austin State University
• Kris Walker, Tennessee Technological University
• William Wardrope, University of Central Oklahoma
  

Businessperson Judges for the Writing Contest

• Judy Cartwright, Principal, RW & JR Cartwright Consultancy Ltd., Auckland, NZ
• Nancy Erickson, Communication Consultant, Erickson & Associates, Boulder, CO
• Kelly Johnson, Executive Director Marketing Support, General Freight Services, Inc., Atlanta, GA
• Sue Jolly Van Sant, Consultant, Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., Webster Grove, MO
• Karl Keller, Communication Partners, Evanston, IL
• Henny Marske, President, Marske Consulting Group, Livonia, MI
  

Finalists for the ABC Writing Contest
(Listed alphabetically by student’s last name)

Student Name Teacher's Name School

Student Name	Teacher's Name	School
Angela Moody	Madonna Koch Richt	Bellevue University
Chuong Nguyen	Sandra Chrystal	University of Southern California
Rebecca Poe	Cynthia Ryan	University of Alabama at Birmingham

The ABC Student Awards Committee thanks everyone who promoted the contest, who encouraged students to submit their work, who read and evaluated entries, or who helped in other ways to make this year’s contest a success! The Committee also gives a special thanks to authors Mary Munter and Paul Argenti and publisher Houghton Mifflin whose generosity made it possible for us to recognize the exceptional writing of three students this year. Thank you!