"Over the past eighteen months, IQ magazine has blossomed into a quality
professional journal and proud standard bearer for our industry," said
retiring RMAA National President Chris Fripp as he introduced the award
presentation.
Chris put that blossoming down partly to the efforts of the journal's editor
and also to the new production team at Comperation. But a magazine is only
as good as its content, and it has been the contributions from RMAA members,
he said, that have given the content of the journal its relevance and
interest. Without their input, the RMAA would have no story to tell.
Articles which appeared in IQ and have been considered for the 2004-2006
Award covered subjects ranging from biometrics to emails, education to
history, EDRMS to ethics. Many of those articles have been picked up by a
RIM industry publication in the UK, have been published on intranets, have
even been quoted by USA Today.
To present the awards, Chris introduced Gerry Williams, Objective
Corporation's National Sales Manager Asia Pacific. Gerry said that from a
shortlist of 11 articles, the judges for the 2004-2005 award came down to a
final group of three articles which they felt best met the criteria. They
were original, they had an involving, readable style, and they showed the
author's thorough grasp of their subject matter.
While Laurie Varendorff's 'Trojan Horse Program' article qualified in all
three respects, the judges would have liked to have seen the author discuss
the implications of his subject in more depth.
Gerry said that the judges were so impressed with one article, they awarded
a Highly Commended Certificate, to Stephen Macinstosh's 'Making DIRKS Work.'
In the words of the Objective Corporation's judge: "I liked the frank and
useful suggestions to the National Archives of Australia. Hopefully this
will be helpful to the next agency embarking on a DIRKS project."
The 2004-2005 Objective IQ Article of the Year Award went to Michael
Steemson, for 'The Worldwide Impact of ISO 15489.' Mike was in the UK at the
time unable to be present to receive the award. When, several months before,
he was told he'd been shortlisted, he said, "I've never been shortlisted
before. It sounds painful."
Courtesy of Objective Corporation, Mike won a Canon IXUS 700 7.1 megapixel
digital camera which features zoom lens and movie recording and playback
with sound.
His article chronicled the worldwide impact of an Australian recordkeeping
initiative which has now had a broad international impact. One judge
commented: "I found it impressive for its breadth."
The judges felt that Mike's readable style and in-depth research made this
article one that could be read and understood by people both inside and
outside the industry, and was a great advertisement for records and
information management.
After announcing the awards, Gerry Williams said, "I would like to encourage
all of you out there to put thoughts on paper and fingers to keyboard, and
to send emails zinging on their way to the Editor of IQ on any subject of
interest to you and your peers.
"Not only will RMAA members be eligible for next year's award, but you will
contribute to a great industry magazine and the continued development of our
great industry."
