Prior to entering academia, Vance had a 25-year career as a professional radio and television broadcaster.

Vance served in several capacities with APEX for a number of years and was fondly referred to as "the professor."  As Director of Operations (DoO) Vance led the APEX Board of Directors toward formulation of a charter and by-laws, which solidified the longevity of the organization. Everyone agrees
that without his input, guidance and organizational skills, a

difficult task would have been impossible.

Vance Elderkin lives in the United States of America, more specifically in the state of North Carolina (on the southeast coast of the USA).

He is an Instructor in Communication at Alamance Community College. Before that, Vance taught electronic communication at North Carolina State University for 18 years. (No, you do not call me Doctor. He has a Master's degree in Radio, Television and Motion Pictures, with a minor in Journalism.) Vance also a freelance voice actor and writer.

Royal Awards University was founded in 2001 by Nikola Kitanovic with several goals: to help those who wanted to begin an awards program; to help those who wanted to improve their sites in order to earn awards; to evaluate sites upon request for family-friendliness; and for the recruiting and education of web site evaluators (for web-building techniques and for ethics).

In May of 2004, with the blessing of Nikola Kitanovic, the site was re-launched by Vance Elderkin under the new name of RAU Awards Institute™. The purpose of the site was narrowed in order to concentrate on resources for awards masters.

Vance Elderkin created Quality Independent Web Awards (QIWA) was created to fill a unique niche in the world of awards-the needs of the web master who did not wish to affiliate his/her awards program with an awards-rating index. QIWA had an excellent six year run, outlasting many of the award programs listed and having served its original intent, closed with honor.

The Internet Beacon Awards is Vance Elderkin's current Award Program contribution, quoting from the website below.

"There is clearly a need to encourage the building of Internet sites for more noble purposes. I wanted to recognize those few web masters who have worked hard to build a quality web site with the primary purpose of effectively providing positive information and valuable resources to the Internet community -- not to collect money, but to make a positive contribution to the Internet and to humanity, asking nothing in return. Not everyone can be a talented computer programmer or graphic artist, and not everyone has access to the resources of a business or government agency, but I strongly believe that anyone who is willing to put in the effort can build a solid web site with quality, positive content. Additionally, I wish to encourage those who are just learning to build web sites to strive for excellence. One person, you see, can make a difference. I believe that with all my heart."