Judges for the 2009 WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards

The 2009 Plain English Awards were judged by a panel of professional plain English experts and advocates.

Neil James

Executive Director, Plain English Foundation, Australia

Neil James returns again as one of our two international guest judges. Neil is Chair of the International Working Group on Plain Language, is hosting the 2009 PLAIN International Conference in Sydney later this year, and was a keynote speaker at the first WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Conference in 2006.

After a long career in government and the media, Neil James completed a doctorate in English and set up Australia’s Plain English Foundation with Peta Spear. The Foundation combines plain English training, editing, and auditing with a public campaign for plain English. Neil has published two books and over 50 essays and articles on language and literature. Neil’s newest work, Writing at Work (Allen and Unwin 2007), a book on plain language and the professions, has been widely acclaimed as one of the best of its kind.

Kristina Halvorson

President, Brain Traffic, USA

Kristina is the founder and president of Brain Traffic, an internationally-renowned agency specialising in web content strategy and delivery.

Widely recognised as one of the USA’s leading web writers and content strategists, Kristina speaks regularly to audiences around the world about how to deliver useful, usable content online, where and when your customers need it most.

Kristina is the author of Content Strategy for the Web (New Riders, August 2009).

Jacquie Harrison

Senior Lecturer, School of Communication Studies, AUT University

Jacquie Harrison became seriously involved in the plain English philosophy in the early 1990s when she wrote her doctoral thesis on ‘Plain English and public documents in New Zealand’. Since that time Jacquie has conducted research projects on the accessibility of legislation, and for many years before she took up her present position she designed and delivered writing skills training courses for staff and managers in both the government and corporate sectors in New Zealand.

David Russell

Former CEO, Consumers' Institute

David Russell, long-time advocate for consumers’ rights, is the former CEO of Consumers’ Institute — a position he held for more than 15 years. As the Institute’s spokesman on a broad range of consumer issues, David’s name became synonymous with saving New Zealanders from dodgy dealings, large and small. As far back as the 1980s David was a part of New Zealand’s first plain English campaign. After asking the public to dob in pieces of impenetrable text, the offending document was sent back with a sticker that said, 'This is gobbledygook; use plain English!’

Melua Watson

Co-founder and Director, Writeclick

Melua is co-founder and director of leading New Zealand web content company Writeclick. She has created content for some of our largest public sector organisations and best known brands.

Melua is an ardent advocate of user-focused writing and the awesome power of keeping things simple. When she’s not writing web content, she’s teaching other people how to.

Melua has worked in communications for central and local government agencies in New Zealand, and as a mayoral speech writer in Melbourne. Her work has had an exclusively online focus for the past five years.

Judging process for the 2009 Plain English Awards

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