2025 Karoscik Realtime Contest Champion

Kristin Wegryn, RMR, CRR

2025 Karoscik Realtime Contest Individual Leg Results

Karoscik Realtime Contest Rules 

Click here for the rules in downloadable PDF format

NEXT CONTEST: 
2026 OCRA Annual Conference, Friday, March 20, 2026

TESTING CRITERIA: 
Two five-minute tests will be dictated as follows:

Literary: 200 words per minute 
Testimony (two voice): 225 words per minute

• Speed will be determined by actual word count.  Syllabic density may vary over the course of the five minutes. 
• The Literary component will consist of solid matter dictation of unspecified topic at 200 WPM.  The 200 WPM one-voice literary portion may be written in ALL CAPS.   
• The two-voice dictation will consist of Q and A, with the Qs and As neither read nor counted, at 225 WPM. The 225 wpm two-voice Q and A portion MUST BE WRITTEN IN MIXED CASE.  Two-voice Q and A transcripts in ALL CAPS will be disqualified.
• Preview words for the realtime contest will be given on the day of the contest.

ELIGIBILITY: 
Any writer of stenographic machine shorthand who is a member of OCRA in good standing and who has attained at least NCRA RPR or CRC status. 

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES BARRED: 
Contestants must give to the committee satisfactory assurance that they have not received, directly or indirectly, any remuneration or promise of remuneration of whatever character for entering or winning any part of this contest. 

ENTRY FEE: 
Please register on the Annual Conference registration form. The fee is $60 if paid by the registration deadline. Fee to be paid prior to contest. (If registering for both the Karoscik Realtime Contest and Hagestrom Cup Speed Contest, the fee will be discounted to a total of $110 for both.)

SEATING ARRANGEMENT: 
The defending champion, if present, will have their choice of seats.  If the defending champion has been retired, the previous Karoscik Realtime Contest second place contestant will have their choice of seats.  Subsequent seating shall be at the discretion of the chief examiner of the Karoscik Realtime Contest. 

TEST PROCEDURES: 
No recording devices will be permitted in the examination room except those that may be used by the Karoscik Realtime Contest Committee.  Electronic devices such as smartphones and smartwatches must be silent/off and will be collected at the door.  Audio functions on writers and computers must be disabled.  Writers should be placed in Test Mode and computers should be in Airplane Mode.  The use of any speech-to-text functions in CAT or other software (such as Stenograph Check It or Eclipse Boost Flow) is prohibited and is cause for disqualification.  Contestants may make corrections using the steno or computer keyboard during the dictation.  Once the dictation has concluded, contestants may NOT touch the computer keyboard and must cease writing on the steno machine within five (5) seconds.

QUALIFYING:
Only one transcription will be permitted of each leg. 95% and higher qualifies. In order to qualify, contestant must write realtime into a computer and, without editing, at the direction of a testing monitor, create a printable file saved on a contestant-provided USB flash drive.  Those unable to produce such a file within five (5) minutes of such request may be disqualified at the discretion of the contest chair. After verification of receipt of the file, the contestant will be required to delete all components of the file, including any audio, from hard drive and recycle bin. 

The two scores for everyone who qualifies in both segments will be averaged, and the contestant with the highest average will be the champion.

Two-voice testimony can be transcribed in either Q and A format, colloquy, or by using chevrons or some other new speaker designation as long as the change of speaker is clearly obvious. Neither the Q nor A will be counted nor read.

Punctuation errors will apply irrespective of speaker format. No transcript will be eligible for consideration with less than 95% accuracy. 

Automatic Fail:  A submitted uploaded file that does not contain printable data.

The final files for grading should be formatted as follows:

• Submit each file as an ASCII or PDF on a contestant-provided USB flash drive (flash drives will be returned to contestants)
• Contestant Number as given before contest should be on EACH page
• NO personal identifiers anywhere on any page 

AWARDS: 
Winners and qualifiers will be announced during the Annual Conference. A trophy will be awarded for first place, medals will be awarded for second and third place, and an appropriate certificate to those who attain 95% or higher. The contest committee will publish/announce only names of qualifying contestants. 

PDCs:
In order for a member to be granted 0.25 PDC for a speed or realtime contest, OCRA must receive preapproval from NCRA. NCRA will grant credit for these contests so long as they meet the published criteria for the speed and realtime contests held at the most recent NCRA Conference & Expo. A maximum of 1.0 credit from all non-CEU credits will be accepted by NCRA per three-year cycle. 

ALL COMMITTEE DECISIONS FINAL: 
The decisions of the committee made under these rules, or such supplementary rules as may be found necessary at the time of the contest, shall be final. 

CONTEST MEDIA: 
All submitted files become the property of OCRA and will not be available for participant review.  Submitted USB flash drives will be returned back to the contestant.

GRADING: 
Contestants will not be permitted to be present during the grading process. Transcripts will be marked for identification and corrected in such a manner that it will be impossible to know whose work is being examined until after the grading has been completed.

ERRORS: 
Determination of what is an error shall be determined by the current "What Is An Error?" guidelines of NCRA for the CRR examination.  

Two-voice Testimony can be transcribed as: (all are acceptable, no points off) 
Q. Where do you live? 
A. Columbus, Ohio. 
or 
MS. SMITH: Where do you live? 
MS. JONES: Columbus, Ohio. 
or 
>> Reporter: Where do you live? 
>> Witness: Columbus, Ohio.

Past Karoscik Realtime Contest Winners

2002 Donna Karoscik
2003 Donna Karoscik
2004 Donna Karoscik - Retired 
2005 Heidi Geizer 
2006 Lisa Conley 
2007 Jacquie Gutierrez 
2008 Jacquie Gutierrez 
2009 Heidi Geizer 
2010 Sara Clark 
2011 Lin Riffle 
2012 Sue Trischan 
2013 Kristin Wegryn
2014 Sara Clark
2015 Lahana DuFour
2016 B. Lynn Els
2017 Lance Boardman
2018 Lisa Conley Yungblut
2019 Jane Proud
2020 no conference/contests held
2021 Lisa Conley Yungblut - Retired
2022 Lin Riffle
2023 Lin Riffle - Retired
2024 Jane Proud
2025 Kristin Wegryn