Los Altos Woman Honored for Court Reporting Skills

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters and captioners, today announced that Jo Ann Bryce, an official court reporter from Castro Valley, Calif., was named winner of the 2013 National Realtime Contest, which was held during the association’s annual Convention & Expo, in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 8-11.

Joining Bryce on the podium was Deanna “Dee” C. Boenau, a CART provider and captioner from Sarasota, Fla., who earned second place in the contest, and Laura P. Brewer, a principal with Brewer & Darrenougue, from Los Altos, Calif., who earned third place. Brewer also scored a rare accuracy rate of 100 percent rate in the Realtime literary leg of the competition.

In the National Realtime Contest, Certified Realtime Reporters (CRR) and Registered Merit Reporters (RMR) test their realtime writing skills. The annual competition consists of two five-minute dictations: straight matter at 200 words-per-minute, and a two-voice dictation at 225 words-per-minute. Contestants qualify in each leg with an accuracy rate of 95 percent or better, and the best combined score wins the championship.

Bryce, a court reporter for 38 years, is an official court reporter for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. She holds the professional certification of California Certified Steno Reporter (CSR), and the NCRA certifications of Registered Merit Reporter (RMR), Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR), and the Federal Certified Realtime Reporter (FCRR). A graduate of Oakland College of Reporting in Oakland, Calif., Bryce also won the national realtime event in 2008, 2009, and 2011. She also holds multiple championships in a number of California realtime contests from the mid-1980s through the 1990s.

“When my daughter was in court reporting school, she encouraged me to start competing again. My practice for the contest was working and writing realtime every day for the court,” she said.

Second place winner Boenau has worked as a court reporter, CART provider, and captioner for 21 years. A graduate of Pinellas Technical Education Centers in St. Petersburg, Fla., she holds the professional designations of Registered Merit Reporter (RMR), Registered Diplomate Reporter (RDR), Certified Broadcast Reporter (CBR), Certified CART provider (CCP), and is a Fellow of the Academy of Professional Reporters (FAPR).

Boenau, who works with her husband doing the day-to-day managing of operations for his company, AmeriCaption, holds the 2010 National Realtime Contest title, as well as numerous titles in the states of Florida and Pennsylvania.

“Competing is a way for me to measure my own improvement throughout my career. I don’t train. I work every day to provide the best communication access through my realtime captions to a potential audient of millions. I never become complacent with my writing skills,” she said.

Brewer, who earned third place in the competition, and a rare 100 percent accuracy score in the literary leg of the event, has been a court reporter since 1981. She holds the professional certifications of Registered Merit Reporter (RMR), Registered Diplomate Reporter (RDR), Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR), Certified CART provider (CCP), Certified Broadcast Captioner (CBC), and the California Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) and Certified Realtime Professional (CRP). She is a graduate of the Academy of Stenographic Arts in San Francisco, Calif.

“I have always enjoyed working on my skills, and I am competitive by nature. Once I realized I could qualify for the contest, I was hooked. My goal has always been to achieve 100 percent on a competition literary take,” said Brewer, who recently earned the 2013 World Champion Speech Capturing event in Ghent, Belgium. She also earned the World Champion Realtime title in 2011 in Paris, France, and first place in the Speech Capturing Steno contest held in Prague, Czech Republic in 2007. She also holds numerous national and state-level titles.

About NCRA

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) is internationally recognized for promoting excellence among those who capture and convert the spoken word to text for more than 100 years. NCRA is committed to supporting its more than 19,000 members in achieving the highest level of professional expertise with educational opportunities and industry-recognized court reporting, educator and videographer certification programs. NCRA impacts legislative issues and the global marketplace through its actively involved membership. Forbes has named court reporting as one of the best career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the court reporting field is expected to grow more than 5 percent in the coming years. For more information, visitwww.NCRA.org.