{"id":13426,"date":"2022-06-21T01:06:27","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T05:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/?p=13426"},"modified":"2022-06-24T11:27:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T15:27:46","slug":"2022-white-paper-spec-challenge-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/2022-white-paper-spec-challenge-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 White Paper Spec Challenge Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"
Out of 72 papers submitted, the very best was done by\u00a0Jennifer Koppelman<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State<\/strong> and went on to train as a lawyer. But she never practiced.<\/p>\n Instead, she signed up with the U.S. Army <\/strong>and spent 7 years as a signals intelligence analyst.<\/p>\n During that time, she was deployed overseas to Bosnia and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next she worked in a similar role as an intelligence analyst for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where Jennifer produced her first-ever white paper. She wrote it for a government audience \u201cin that very formal G2G style, quite different from B2B.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2014, she\u2019s worked in a bookstore, an apt job for a writer that I did myself some years ago.<\/p>\n And lately Jennifer has been finding her way into the writer\u2019s life.<\/p>\n We hope this award provides her with a big boost along that path.<\/p>\n In this intense 6-week program, participants learn all about the white paper format and the steps to create one: planning, research, writing, polishing, and handling comments.<\/p>\n And to apply these skills, the participants fill in some missing pieces in an actual white paper.<\/p>\n They write a title, executive summary, conclusions, call-to-action, and then research and write one entire section from scratch.<\/p>\n As a further challenge, participants had to match the conversational voice and governing metaphor aimed at a marketing person in a small B2B firm.<\/p>\n Many people rose to the challenge.<\/p>\n In fact, we had 72 projects submitted. Narrowing all those down to a single champion was not easy.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Click to hear Jennifer\u2019s reaction to the news\u00a0that she won \u201cJennifer really did everything right with her paper,\u201d I said during our Zoom on May 25 to tell her the good news.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd her paper scored 98% on our marking rubric.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHer white paper has empathy, strong analysis, a clean and uncluttered table, and nice transitions between sections.<\/p>\n “Most of all, she completely matched the original voice and used the governing metaphor tastefully.\u201d<\/p>\n Jennifer\u2019s crowning achievement was matching the chatty, informal voice of the original white paper aimed at a Millennial marketing person, along with the Big Idea that compared doing a white paper to going on an arduous hike.<\/p>\n \u201cI will confess, matching that voice was the hardest part for me,\u201d said Jennifer.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was probably my third iteration of the project. The first one was way too formal. In the second one, I felt like I went overboard. I just threw in all sorts of hiking words.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd finally, I had a lightbulb moment when I decided to put in a table. That took care of most of the issues I was worried about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m really pleased that you liked my final version so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Previous White Paper Spec Challenge Winner Kristen Stelzer<\/strong><\/a> was the head teaching assistant for the program.<\/p>\n Other TAs were previous Spec Challenge Winner Beth Tiller<\/strong><\/a>, author and artist Elizabeth Creith<\/strong><\/a>, and copywriter Gary Mull.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Many thanks to the TAs and the AWAI for all the work sponsoring the program.<\/p>\n I think everyone who submits a project in a program like this is a big winner. Completing a white paper is a weighty assignment.<\/p>\n So, to all the participants who took the program, you now know more about white papers than 98% of the writers out there!<\/p>\n I generally teach this program once a year; this was the spring 2022 session.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll let all my subscribers know when it comes around again. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, here’s your chance.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just taught another session of the AWAI White Paper Mastery and Certification Program. And I\u2019m delighted to announce the winner of the $5K White Paper Spec Challenge. Out of 72 papers submitted, the very best was done by\u00a0Jennifer Koppelman. Meet Jennifer Koppelman Originally from Illinois, Jennifer\u2019s family moved near Phoenix when she was 9.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet Jennifer Koppelman <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nOriginally from Illinois, Jennifer\u2019s family moved near Phoenix when she was 9.<\/p>\nThe challenges in that white paper program<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nthe 2022 White Paper Spec Challenge<\/i><\/p>\nWhat we liked about Jennifer\u2019s paper<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Many thanks to everyone who helped<\/strong><\/h3>\n
When will this program be repeated?<\/strong><\/h3>\n