By John Tomasino (FL)

At the 52nd Annual Conference of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the 2025 Morgan Thomas Award was presented to Steve Circeo, the designer, developer, and ongoing caretaker of the NCACC website.

Although Steve isn’t a court employee, he has become an indispensable member of our organization’s success story. Back in 2022, the NCACC’s website was, to put it generously, showing its age. It was aesthetically outdated, clunky to navigate, and only editable by one person housed at the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. We needed help—and fast.

Even before he was officially hired, Steve jumped in to assist. He helped recover our domain name and SSL certificate, both of which had quietly expired. From there, he worked closely with then-President Larry Royster and me, as Chair of the Technology Committee, to scope and build a new website that would serve the needs of our members and reflect the professionalism of the NCACC.

Steve’s design philosophy is simple: “Keep it simple. Let the content drive the design, not the other way around.” He suggested using WordPress, which allowed us to take control of our own content. He also trained members to manage and update the site themselves—saving us time, money, and frustration. And while we now handle most of the routine updates, Steve remains on call, always ready to troubleshoot or help us add new features. Most recently, he developed a beautiful way to publish The Docket directly on the website—no more PDFs.

And as helpful as Steve is, he’s also just…a joy. He loves what he does, and it shows. He’s one of the rare people who can combine technical mastery, creativity, and approachability in one package. I often find myself wishing more vendors were like Steve—professional, competent, and easygoing.

For his foundational contributions to our website and his ongoing support of our work, we were proud to present the 2025 Morgan Thomas Award to Steve Circeo. It was a well-deserved recognition of someone who has quietly made our digital presence something we can be proud of.