Reston, Dec. 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RESTON, Va., Dec. 31, 2021 — The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, captioners, and legal videographers, has designated Feb. 5-12 as 2022 National Court Reporting & Captioning Week, and invites all media outlets to help celebrate the week by showcasing the profession.
The weeklong event, themed “Spread love and steno everywhere you go,” brings court reporters, captioners, court reporting firms, schools, and others in the legal industry together to help highlight the many aspects that make court reporting and captioning a viable profession. Those aspects include a quicker entrance into the workforce since no four-year degree is required, good salaries, flexibility, interesting venues, and the increasing demand for more reporters and captioners to meet the growing number of employment opportunities available in the field.
The 2022 event marks the 10th year NCRA has hosted the celebration.
“Court Reporting & Captioning Week provides the perfect stage to share with the world what makes court reporting and captioning such wonderful career choices,” said NCRA President Debra A. Dibble, RDR, CRR, CRC, a freelance court reporter and captioner from Salt Lake City, Utah.
“I am so excited about the many activities our members have planned to mark the week. These include making themselves available to the media to demonstrate how they capture the spoken word and transform it into text immediately, as well as seeking official proclamations from lawmakers, visiting high schools to showcase what they do, or volunteering to transcribe the oral history of one of our priceless U.S. veterans for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project,” Dibble said.
“Many NCRA members will also use this week to meet with their local or state bar associations, judges, or attorneys and let them know why the stenographic record is the gold standard for capturing the record or to reach out to local groups and organizations to let them know how they can help them make meetings accessible through captioning for those who are deaf or hard of hearing,” Dibble added.
Court reporters and captioners rely on the latest in technology to use stenographic machines to capture the spoken word and translate it into written text in real time. These professionals work both in and out of the courtroom recording legal cases and depositions, providing live captioning of events, and assisting members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities with gaining access to information, entertainment, educational opportunities, and more.
If you’re looking for a career that is on the cutting edge of technology, offers the opportunity to work at home or abroad, like to write, enjoy helping others, and are fast with your fingers, then the fields of court reporting and captioning are careers you should explore.
The NCRA A to Z® Intro to Steno Machine Shorthand program is a free online six-to-eight-week introductory course that lets participants see if a career in court reporting or captioning would be a good choice for them. The program is an introductory course in stenographic theory and provides participants with the opportunity to learn the basics of writing on a steno machine. There is no charge to take the course, but participants are required to have access to a steno machine or an iPad they can use to download an iStenoPad app.
The NCRA A to Z programs are taught by volunteer professionals working in the court reporting and captioning arenas who also share insights into the many aspects of court reporting and captioning that make it a viable profession, including good salaries, flexibility, interesting venues, and the increasing demand for more reporters and captioners to meet the growing number of employment opportunities available in the field.
To arrange an interview with a working court reporter, captioner, or a current court reporting student, or to learn more about the lucrative and flexible court reporting or captioning professions and the many job opportunities currently available, contact pr@ncra.org.
The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) has been 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 13,000 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. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the court reporting field is expected to be one of the fastest areas of projected employment growth across all occupations. According to 247WallSt.com, the court reporting profession ranks sixth out of 25 careers with the lowest unemployment rate, just 0.7 percent. Career information about the court reporting profession—one of the leading career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree—can be found at DiscoverSteno.org.
