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<p>Hi Boris,</p>
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<p>Right off the bat, I suspect that sponsorships would be the way to go. It seems that many TeX users are affiliated with companies or universities who benefit from a tax write off or being able to mention their role in community/education outreach. Ultimately,
it would be very nice to be able to provide a sponsored trip for a first place winner, and for them to receive some kind of framed copy of their submission.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>For the content of the competition, I like to think of TeX as being used to produce beautiful, or at least precise, documents. Perhaps inaugural years of the proposed competition, you could have an open ended call for competition: Produce a document that
conveys <x,y, z characteristics of a beautiful document>, such that (a) the final product, if printed, does not exceed letter paper size; (b)</p>
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</p>
<p>In contest wording, it would be important to allow the flexibility for a contestant to typeset a written composition, such as a one-page essay about the history of typesetting, or for a contestant to create a more abstract piece...</p>
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</p>
<p>Regarding judging, I would suggest that contestants provide source first to ensure that the product was produced in TeX and second to assess innovative or otherwise favorable uses.</p>
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<p>Let's discuss this further to see where it can go.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div id="Signature">// J.C. Claudio :: UCSD Class of 2003 </div>
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<div id="x_divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> edutex <edutex-bounces@tug.org> on behalf of Boris Veytsman <borisv@lk.net><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 24, 2017 6:25 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Educational TeX-based projects.<br>
<b>Cc:</b> edutex@tug.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [edutex] TeX teaching</font>
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<div class="PlainText">JC> From: J C <tau2128@hotmail.com><br>
JC> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 22:03:27 +0000<br>
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<br>
JC> After thinking about the conversation, perhaps rather than (or as<br>
JC> an alternative to?) a certification, I suggest a new-user and/or<br>
JC> student competition. From my end of the public school (Oak Grove<br>
JC> High School, San Jose, California) spectrum, I feel like my<br>
JC> colleagues would not find value in being TeX certified and this<br>
JC> would not improve our membership numbers or quality. A student<br>
JC> competition, however, would involve teachers or mentors seeking<br>
JC> out students who would already be willing to learn and produce<br>
JC> some document to specifications using TeX, hence actually<br>
JC> fostering a fondness for it rather than a sense of obligation.<br>
<br>
Jennifer, I think this is not an alternative, but an addition to<br>
certification - or, rather, a completely different, but promising<br>
topic.<br>
<br>
I was thinking for quite some time about student competitions. I<br>
could try to fundraise for some prizes, like discounts for TUG<br>
conferences - or, if we find a good sponsor, paid trip for the winners<br>
to TUG. What baffles me is, what kind of a competition we can make?<br>
What are the tasks? If there are ideas about this, let us discuss<br>
them. <br>
<br>
-- <br>
Good luck<br>
<br>
-Boris<br>
<br>
Federal grants are offered for... research into the recreation<br>
potential of interplanetary space travel for the culturally disadvantaged.<br>
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