The Plain English Awards are a public pat on the back for plain English champions, and help raise the bar for clear communication

Nominate the best and the worst for an award

The Awards

Independent panels of plain English experts and advocates judge the entries and decide on the finalists and winners in each category.

The Awards are organised by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.

The Awards aim to:

• improve government and business documents so that all New Zealanders can understand them
• raise public awareness of the need for, and benefits of, plain English
• create a public preference for organisations that choose to communicate in plain English.

Are the Awards still making a difference?

What is plain English?

Plain English is a style of writing in which the language, structure, and presentation of a document all work together to help the reader. A document written in plain English is easy to read, understand, and act on after just one reading.

Plain English allows people to participate in government, commercial, legal, and leisure activities more effectively because they can understand the information presented to them. Plain English also has proven benefits for organisations that use it in their publications — including significant cost savings.

The movement to replace ‘gobbledygook’ in official and business documents with plain English began in Britain in the 1970s. The plain English movement now involves government agencies, public- and private-sector businesses, corporations, consultants, voluntary organisations, and networking groups throughout the world.

WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust

The Plain English Awards are run by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.

Read more about the Trust here