Fed 100 tip #2: Word counts

There are only a few more days for Fed 100 nominations. You can nominate at www.fcw.com/fed100. I offered a tip earlier. Here is another one... on word counts.

We get questions each and every year about the word counts -- people saying they just can't say what they need to say in the number of words provided on the form. Now, I'm sure that each and every one of the words in your response is very important, but it is better to be short and to the point. Remember that the judges have hundreds of nominations to sort through in a very short period of time, so if you are clear and concise, your nomination will get additional attention.

The important issue you want to address: how did this person make a difference in 2006.

This year we added a counter, which tallies the number of "characters" that you have posted in the form. There apparently was some confusion between the number of "characters" and the number of "words." The form counts characters, which is 10 characters, FYI. For those of you cutting and pasting from another program, Microsoft Word can count characters for you -- go to tools and then word count.

Remember -- short and sweet. Make your point.