Awards praise clear communication
Media release, 3 July 2013
Organisations or businesses that use clear, effective communications will be vying for the top honour in this year’s WriteMark Plain English Awards.
The Awards are now open – giving both public and private sector an opportunity to focus on their important messages.
“Organisations are encouraged to show they care when sharing their messages, in a way that all New Zealanders can understand,” says Gregory Fortuin, WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust Chair. “Their efforts to communicate in plain English can make a difference to the lives of many people.”
Last year The Cancer Society’s commitment to clear communication and user-focused materials was applauded, winning the Society the coveted Plain English Champion — Best Organisation award. The entry was among almost 100 from organisations and businesses throughout the country.
The Plain English Awards celebrate and recognise concise, well-structured, and easily understood documents, both online and in print. They 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.
The news was all good in 2012 for a document jointly owned by The Ministry of Social Development and the Inland Revenue. It was a different story to that of the 2006 Awards when their Student Loan contract received the first ever ‘Brainstrain’ award. At that time, the Ministry issued a press statement vowing to do better.
The judges last year declared that the new plain English contract was ‘excellent’, saying ‘It has all the information a contract needs and none that it doesn’t. It successfully speaks to its audience — students — rather than addressing contract lawyers and policy writers. A brilliant turnaround and a well-deserved win!’.
Entries to this year’s Plain English Awards close on 20 September. For more information visit www.plainenglishawards.org.nz.
Ends
For all media enquiries and further information about the Awards, contact:
- Andrea Bolton, WriteMark Plain English Awards, [email protected], 021 670 564
- Gregory Fortuin, Chair, Plain English Awards Trust, [email protected], 021 465 254.