National Realtime Contest

The NCRA Realtime Contest began in 1999 as a way to showcase members' instantaneous speech to text skills. The contest has continued to be an exciting event for members and nonmembers alike.

 

Contest format

The competition consists of two five-minute dictations: straight matter at 200 wpm and a two-voice at 225 wpm. Contestants will produce ascii files and print out transcripts for grading prior to leaving the contest room. Contestants qualify in each with an accuracy rate of 95% or better, and the best combined score among those qualifying in both parts wins the championship.

 

NCRA Realtime Contest Rules and Seating

NCRA Realtime contest rules

  1. Any member in good standing of NCRA who holds the RMR, RDR, or CRR, or who holds both the RPR and the CRC is eligible.
  2. The contest will consist of two five-minute dictations, a Literary component at 200 wpm and a 2-Voice component at 225 wpm. The Literary shall consist of a solid matter dictation of unspecified topic. The 2-Voice shall be a testimony dictation with Q’s and A’s neither counted nor read.
  3. Priority seating choices for the contest will be given to last year’s first, second, and third placers. Other contestants will be given seating assignments in turn by lottery. (See Contestant Identification Numbering, Seating and Lottery Procedures.)
  4. The jump drives that are turned in must be marked for identification with the candidate’s NCRA member number to protect the confidential grading process and will be collected. Media will be left in test envelopes and can be picked up after the results are announced. PDF or ASCII files that cannot be printed will result in disqualification of the candidate. MANDATORY – Contestant number must be in the header/footer on every page of all five legs, both contests. Papers without contestant numbers will not be graded.
  5. The percentage of accuracy to qualify is 95%.  No file will be rated that has more than 5% of errors.  Grading will be done in accordance with NCRA’s What is an Error? guidelines for the CRR test.
  6. Each component shall be graded separately, with the three highest scores receiving award recognition.  There shall be an averaging of both contests to award the overall winner, with averaging scores to the three highest averages.
  7. NCRA may charge an appropriate entry fee to participate in the competition.
  8. The Contests Committee will publish no names or information concerning any contestant or transcript except those that qualify under the rules.  The graded transcripts of all participants will be available to them for review at the NCRA office at the convention site or some other site that the Contests Committee may announce following announcement of the results.
  9. All decisions of the Contests Committee made under these rules, or such supplementary rules as may be found necessary at the time of the Contest, shall be final.
  10. The President of NCRA shall appoint the Contests Committee on an annual basis.

 

Contestant identification numbering, seating and lottery

  1. Last year’s first, second, and third place winners will receive priority seating, in a location of their choice.
  2. All other seats will be numbered from 1 to “X,” with “X” being the total number of contestants in this year’s contest.
  3. Seating will be assigned by lottery at the registration table.  You will not be allowed to enter the contest room until you have registered and been assigned a seating location.
  4. There shall be no changing or rearranging of seats,  You may set up your equipment in your assigned seat with the assurance that you will not have to move before the contest starts.
  5. If the Contests Committee does not specify a certain time, doors shall open one hour before the contest is scheduled to begin.

Unless given permission in advance, no contestants are permitted in the grading room. Acknowledgement and agreement with NCRA Contest Rules and Code of Ethics are required to participate in NCRA Contests.

Reviewed July 2024

Past Realtime Contest results

Realtime contest winners

  • 2024  Patricia Nilsen
  • 2023  Mark Kislingbury
  • 2022  Doug Zweizig
  • 2021  Doug Zweizig
  • 2019  Doug Zweizig
  • 2018  Mark Kislingbury
  • 2017  Dee Boenau
  • 2016  Dee Boenau
  • 2015  Douglas J. Zweizig
  • 2014  Jo Ann Bryce
  • 2013  Jo Ann Bryce
  • 2012  Tammy Milcowitz
  • 2011  Jo Ann Bryce
  • 2010  Dee Boenau
  • 2009  Jo Ann Bryce
  • 2008  Jo Ann Bryce
  • 2007  Louise M. Becker
  • 2006  Douglas J. Zweizig
  • 2005  Laura P. Brewer
  • 2004  Karla Wollin Boyer
  • 2003  Dana Smelley
  • 2002  Mark Tod Kislingbury
  • 2001  Mark Tod Kislingbury
  • 2000  Mark Tod Kislingbury
  • 1999  Mark Tod Kislingbury