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. At the end of the dictation, each contestant will produce an ASCII file on a portable medium provided by the contestant. Candidates will have an opportunity to print a transcript from their ASCII file in a manner determined by the committee before they leave the contest. The diskettes/CDs/jump drives 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. ASCII files that cannot be printed will result in disqualification of the candidate.
5. The percentage of accuracy to qualify is 95%.  No contest 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 appropriate award recognition 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 seat 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.

Reviewed May 2023