Winners of Yahoo! Style Guide Contest

Our Yahoo! Style Guide contest attracted 150 great entries on subjects ranging from eye tracking to capitalization to SEO and more. After we'd reviewed all the tutorials submitted, 15 winners stood out. These tutorials are well worth reading for any Web writer interested in honing their skills. Each of these winners will receive a hardbound print copy of the Yahoo! Style Guide!

Yahoo! Style Guide Winners

Nancy Tracy submitted a piece on punctuation that was fun, informative and snappy, with plenty of room for a few chuckles. Nancy's entry was Chris Barr's favorite Yahoo! Style Guide tutorial--an impressive accolade, considering that Chris is the mastermind behind the Guide itself.

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen advises Web writers to "Know Your Audience and Avoid Bias in Your Writing," with plenty of personal examples thrown in to illustrate her main points. Is your writing more biased than you think?

Heather Laurendeau provides a helpful reference for anyone who's unsure of how to write numbers on the Web. Is it "fifteen Contributors won Yahoo! Style Guides," or "15 Contributors...?" Heather's tutorial can answer that question and more.

Tonya Hillukka is here to help you develop your voice with a smart and personable tutorial full of examples. Check out Tonya's tutorial to learn how to weed clutter and clunky words out of your writing.

Cathy A. Montville addresses a major issue for writers, both experienced and new: Building confidence in your writing. Cathy found that knowing she's used common terms and abbreviations correctly helped her feel more confident as a writer.

Sylvia Cochran's tutorial digs into the science behind successful writing on the Web. Her article on eye tracking is all about how people read online and how you can grab a reader's attention with your writing and formatting.

Joy Smith offers up a concise and helpful tutorial sharing some tips and tricks for online writing. These basics are useful to newer writers and a great reminder even for the experienced Web writer.

Patti Walden addresses one of the most pesky punctuation marks for Web writers. Quotation marks can be tricky, but after reading Patti's tutorial you'll know when, where and how to use them.

Laine Broxton, MBA-HRM transitioned from print writing to writing for the Web and found she needed to change her style to incorporate essentials like SEO and searchability. Her tutorial on getting published and paid to write online addresses what former print writers need to know about jumping to the Internet.

Michele Starkey's tutorial goes right to the core of one of the most important parts of an online article: The headline. A snappy and searchable headline can make or break an article.

Cornelius Fortune goes back to basics with an overview of writing for the Web, from learning about your audience to the length of articles. Read Cornelius's tutorial to find out why he thinks every writer should listen to NPR.

Barbara Kellam-Scott knows a thing or two about the changing world of writing. She used to earn a living as a proofreader "back when every correction cost money in resetting type." Her tutorial on writing style and word use discusses just why the Yahoo! Style Guide is an invaluable resource today.

Marie Anne St. Jean's tutorial goes over a Web writer's bread and butter, basic SEO. Her simple but effective techniques can help writers get more views without writing in a stilted, keyword-stuffed style.

Chelsea Baldwin answers the age old question, "To be or not to be?" in her tutorial. Of course, she's talking about using "to be" verbs, not about Hamlet's contemplation of his own mortality.

Linda Ann Nickerson puts people first in her tutorial about how to address individuals using their titles. Nobody wants to interview a bigwig and then get their title wrong in the article--check Linda's tutorial first to make sure you've used titles correctly.

Congratulations to our winners! We're so proud to celebrate our Contributors' devotion to the craft of writing for the Web!