2010 WriteMark |
Friday 3 September 2010 |
New Zealand Plain English Awards |
|
Department of Corrections
Finalist: Plain English Champion — Best Individual or Team
Corrections Inmate Employment Team
View booklet submitted for this entry (2,611KB PDF)
Media release
Good old fashioned plain talking sees CIE make finalists
A booklet for prisoners explaining the benefits of participating in employment while in prison saw Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) make the list of finalists for the 2009 WriteMark Plain English Awards.
The awards, judged on 18 September, aim to recognise individuals and organisations doing their best to communicate with clarity.
“It’s a fantastic result for CIE,” says National Manager CIE Brent Maughan. “We put a lot of work into getting information out to prisoners and the public about who we are and what we do, and our aim is always to make it as easy to understand as possible.
“To be recognised as a finalist in the ‘Plain English Champion: Best Individual or Team’ category is really gratifying. “We’ve also learnt a lot from looking at the work submitted by other entrants, and plan to use that knowledge in future projects,” says Brent. “We will certainly be aiming to win an award next year!”
“Our entry was a booklet for prisoners, explaining the benefits of the employment training opportunities available to them in prison, how these can lead to Release to Work opportunities and job opportunities on release, and what they need to do to be considered for employment training during their sentence,” says Brent.
The booklet was designed to ensure a high level of clarity, readability and retention. A significant number of photos and diagrams were used to illustrate the Employment Career Pathway for prisoners. The booklet is now also published electronically on the Prisoner Information Kiosk, making the information available to all prisoners.
One of the visiting international judges for the competition, Neil James of the Plain English Foundation in Sydney, said documents entered by government agencies were genuinely world class and showed a real commitment to plain English.
Sponsors
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in 2010.
