Letters to the
Editor
Elizabeth
Simpson, Tollerton, Nottingham
Elizabeth
Simpson Award
Each year I like to send a congratulatory
letter to the winner of the Award and today 1
have just read the June issue of the Berkshire
with the piece by Sally Pellow.
First of all then, my congratulations to you
and your team on a finely produced magazine which
justifiably won this year's award against the
high quality of the runners up. 1 had already
enjoyed reading them all and agreed with the
judging committee and now here is a lovely piece
which explains 'how' you won. I had thought when
reading it that it was a very polished entrant
and I wasn't looking at the content, but the
presentation. Thirty years have done a very great
deal for publishing in general and I thought how
far we had all come from the Gestetner issues of
the 1970's. I went out recently to look for a
typewriter only to be told that no one buys them
any more, it is all computers and their close
cousins. I was shown a machine and sat for a
whole hour just reading the operating
instructions. I found that I could follow it
until about page 20 and thereafter I was left
totally bewildered - it was a magnificent desk-top-publisher.
I realised at once that if you sat someone in
front of it who could actually understand how it
worked, you could come up with the most fantastic
publication, which is exactly what you have all
done for Berkshire. It is an enormous credit to
you all. I applaud the fact that you have a bunch
of people working on the production, not just one
Almighty Editor, and that you got together with
youngsters at your University Typographical
Department and used their young brains and ideas
to help you come up with a positive magazine
which your members must look forward to receiving.
Add to all this the quality of the writing and
variety of subject matter which you are able to
use and you come up with a real winner.
Please give my congratulations to all
concerned and wish them continued success for the
future.
