NCRA hosted its own Olympics with its two annual contests for Speed and Realtime writing, as well as a challenge to the speed writing Guinness Record, during its 2021 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Nev.
Donna Urlaub, RMR, CRR, of Chicago, Ill., was crowned the Speed Contest champion with an overall 99.32% overall accuracy rate. A longtime competitor, Urlaub placed first in both the 280 wpm Testimony and the 230 Legal Opinion legs and third in the 220 wpm Literary, with a combined 24 errors. Earning silver was Doug Zweizig, RDR, CRR, of Wilmington, Del., with an overall accuracy rate of 99.09% — with only one error on his Literary take. Bronze went to Melanie Humphrey-Sonntag, FAPR, RDR, CRR, CRC, of Cheyenne, Wyo., who scored a 98.82% accuracy.
Zweizig repeated his 2019 Realtime Contest win – making this his fourth time winning the Realtime Contest. (He previously earned Realtime gold in 2006 and 2015.) Zweizig’s combined accuracy rate for the two legs was 98.38% from placing second in the Literary and first in the Q&A. Debra Bollman Farfan, RDR, CRR, CRC, of Los Angeles, Calif., earned a silver medal with an overall accuracy 97.23% and Ron Cook, FAPR, RDR, CRR, CRC, of Redmond, Wash., placed third with a combined 96.29% accuracy rate.
The Speed Contest consists of three legs: literary at 220 wpm, legal opinion at 230 wpm, and testimony at 280 wpm. Contestants have a total of 90 minutes per leg for transcription.
The Realtime Contest consists of two legs: literary at 200 wpm and testimony at 225 wpm. Contestants must turn in an ASCII file immediately following the end of dictation.
In both contests, contestants must receive 95 percent accuracy to qualify; accuracy also determines the winners.
Special thanks to Stenograph for sponsoring the Speed Contest and lunch for contestants.
