Martin Luther King Jr. Day marked the opening of NCRF’s second annual Carl Sauceda Grant. The $1,000 grant will be awarded to an NCRA member who is a court reporter or captioner and who has shared his or her knowledge by helping to build a mentoring network, assisting others to advance their skills, or providing a comparable learning activity. The nomination window closes March 30.
The grant is named in honor of Carl Sauceda, FAPR, RMR (Ret.), of Hayward, Calif. Sauceda was elected to serve as NCRA President from 1999 to 2000, but his legacy of giving back to others carries on today. The grant’s purpose is to recognize those who have influenced the lives of rising court reporters. “[Receiving this grant] will be an honor for the recipient to continue to promote and support the profession,” said Sauceda.
NCRF’s inaugural grant was awarded to Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI, a court reporter and CART captioner from Washington, D.C., and president of the Maryland Court Reporters Association. Rogers has long been involved with promoting the profession, most recently hosting her third virtual transcribe-a-thon in conjunction with the Smithsonian Transcription Center and staff from the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C.
She is also credited with organizing volunteers to write Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in steno in honor of Black History Month, organizing yearly steno karaoke gatherings, spearheading the launch of a month-long membership campaign as chair of NCRA’s Membership Committee, and starting the “Steno Fitness Challenge,” which challenges members to exercise at least 15 minutes per day to get fit before the NCRA Conference & Expo.
Rogers, a proud mother of daughter Ava, has been called by her peers a “one-woman publicity machine for the profession” and is recognized for her ability to inspire, unite, and empower others to serve.
Members may apply or nominate a fellow member. Eligibility criteria include:
- The applicant/nominee must be an NCRA member in good standing.
- The applicant/nominee must be either actively involved in the court reporting or captioning arena or have been actively engaged in working in court reporting or captioning within the previous year.
- The applicant/nominee must have demonstrated excellence in the field by work history, dedication to the advancement of the profession, volunteerism, education, and/or support of the profession in an exemplary way.
- The applicant/nominee must have shown through leadership, training, support, and/or education the ability to motivate and encourage and inspire others in the field.
- The applicant/nominee must have demonstrated a consistent desire to improve the culture, spirit, and perception of the court reporting and captioning field through community outreach, personal interaction, and professional team building.
Complete grant requirements, eligibility criteria, and an application submission form may be found here.
