2010 WriteMark |
Friday 3 September 2010 |
New Zealand Plain English Awards |
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Northland Regional Council — Finalist, Best Plain English Website — Public Sector/Non-Government Organisation (NGO)
Media Release
24 September
Northland Regional Council is thrilled to be a finalist in the 2008 WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards.
The award recognises official writing that avoids ‘gobbledygook’ and is easy to read, understand, and act upon after just one reading.
“The achievement is recognition of the work we put into making our website user friendly, readable and informative,” says Jason Dawson, Community Relations Manager. “We’ve had a great team of staff working to remove the gobbledygook from the site to ensure our ratepayers can access information without the need to translate bureaucratic language.”
The lack of “bureaucratic preaching” was noted in the judges’ comments. “This is a site that shines in what it’s missing — bureaucratic preaching. It is an absolute beauty and a brilliant model for a Regional Council website.”
The website www.nrc.govt.nz is no stranger to awards, having beaten more than 80 other local authority websites earlier this year, to be judged the best of its kind in New Zealand.
The Council was ranked number one amongst New Zealand’s 85 Councils, collecting the Supreme Award at the 2008 ALGIM Web Awards in Nelson. It also collected ‘Best Website Design’ and ‘Best Use of Innovation — People’s Choice’ at last year’s ALGIM Web Awards.
The website was developed — and is managed — in-house by Mr Dawson and the Council’s Online Communications Officer Tracey Morris.
The website contains a comprehensive online library of the Council’s publications and plans, as well as an email subscription service which allows users to stay in touch about consultation, job vacancies, events, Council meetings and news.
There are also a number of tasks citizens can complete online 24/7 without having to visit Regional Council offices, including payments, applications or making submissions.
