APCUG Reports
October-December 2006

In these categories judges will look at what the organization is accomplishing in the area of community service, sustainability of the project, who is being helped and how, what relationships are being built with other organizations, how the project adds to the visibility of user groups, etc.

The APCUG community service committee has decided to extend the deadline for the "How To" category until October 31, 2006 and we are encouraging groups that won in 2005 to enter this category. To be fair to entries submitted by the original September deadline, judges will award extra points to any groups that entered by the original deadline.

The "How to" category is different in that the objective is to encourage groups who have successful projects to describe their project in such detail that another group in some other part of the world might say "I think we can do that. You have shown us how to do it, and now we will begin doing it in our area."

APCUG has had great success in sharing our tips about what works in running our groups in Reports, on our web site, and at our conferences. We hope that in encouraging our past winners and other groups to share the nitty gritty details about their success in the community service venue that we will be able to replicate many of the user group success stories around the globe.

In this category the more details you provide about "HOW TO" organize and implement a community service project modeled on what has been successful in your area, the better opportunity you will have to win a Jerry Award.

If your group’s project depends on acquiring certain resources, how do you acquire those resources? If you have a list of places where you go to get what you need, show that list, and if they are all local places, describe how you came up with that list in a manner that would assist another group in creating their own list.

How do you publicize your needs (1) for volunteers, (2) for resources, and (3) for recipients for the service your project provides? If you have developed specific tools and procedures that your project uses, describe exactly how you developed those tools and procedures.

We are encouraging you to list resources for drivers, freeware, shareware, etc. which you may have found useful. Consider providing the curriculum of courses offered, handouts, slides, etc., as long as you are willing and able to share these with other groups.

If you have a website which contains all of this information (and that is a good way to let new volunteers know how you do things), you may submit that. And you can submit as many PDF files as you need. Please use underscores rather than spaces in the names of your pdf files, because we will be putting them online both for the judges, and then for everyone once the judging is over.

As always, we are grateful to our past sponsors of the APCUG Annual Jerry Awards, including Microsoft MindShare, CompUSA, Corel, National Cristina Foundation, and Adobe Systems. We hope we will be adding to the list of sponsors this year and be able to provide more recognition and backing for our winning entries; helping them to be able to continue their good work in their communities.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity of the extended deadline. After all who wants to just be the manager of an apple orchard if you can be Johnny Appleseed, spreading seeds all over the world?