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2016 WRITEMARK NEW ZEALAND PLAIN ENGLISH AWARDS

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  • Wright Family Foundation

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.
  
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