While we're not running the Awards in 2020, we will be back! So hold on to your entries. Image by Neel / Unsplash licence
The annual Plain English Awards is a world-class event that relies on the efforts and support of a large and varied group of plain language enthusiasts. From our generous sponsors to our international panels of judges; our administrative team through to our entrants — every year we benefit from a huge amount of passion and commitment.
We acknowledge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on many individuals and organisations, so we’ve decided not to run the Awards this year. We’re mindful that many organisations that would normally enter may be under greater pressure than usual. And that other organisations and individuals who usually get involved with the Awards may have less availability.
Our patron, Chloe Wright, supports the decision: ‘I think this option makes sense for this year,’ she says. ‘So many difficult decisions have had to be made over the past few months. We must look to a different and better future by coming through COVID shaken but whole.’
We’ll be ready to roll again when the time’s right
Although we’re not running the Awards this year, we will be back soon. We’ve loved the wonderful examples of plain English that we’ve seen being used both in New Zealand and overseas to communicate clearly during the pandemic. This heightened interest in clear communication gives us an extra incentive to get back up and running when the time’s right.
We look forward to celebrating the efforts of so many communicators at such an important time. So hold on to your entries — we won’t be hosting the Awards for a while, but we’ll make sure you can enter projects you’re especially proud of from your work in 2020.
Keep safe and well. And be sure to check in from time to time. We’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready to get rolling again.
Rhiannon Davies May 21st, 2020
Posted In: 2020 Plain English Awards, Industry awards
Tags: Plain English Awards
Hands up who's excited about the upcoming Plain English Awards? Image by Jaime Lopes/Unsplash licence.
We’re encouraged by the amount of interest people are showing in next year’s Awards. We hope this is a sign that our goal of creating a public preference for plain English is working!
So that you’re ready when the time comes, here are the dates you need to know for the 2020 Awards.
- Entries open: Tuesday, 31 March
- Entries close: Friday, 29 May
- Shortlist announced: Thursday, 18 June
- Finalists announced: Thursday, 23 July
- Winners announced: Thursday, 20 August
Find out more about entering the 2020 Plain English Awards
Email us to find out about sponsorship options for next year’s Awards
Rhiannon Davies November 18th, 2019
Posted In: 2020 Plain English Awards, Industry awards, Plain English Awards
Tags: clear thinking, clear writing, improved writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
We're proud to let you know that the independent news and current affairs website Newsroom is our official media partner for 2019. Image by Sofiya Levchenko. Unsplash licence.
Working alone has its benefits. But joining forces with someone else can be even better.
We’re excited to announce that we have an official media partner for this year’s People’s Choice Awards — the independent news and current affairs website Newsroom. Many of you will know Newsroom, a New Zealand site with a team of award-winning journalists. This team produces quality written and video stories that set the national news agenda and inform intelligent conversations at every level of New Zealand life.
Focusing on people, progress, and democracy
One of the many traits we love about Newsroom is their focus on delivering ‘in-depth storytelling for thinking audiences with an interest in the people, progress, and democracy of Aotearoa’.
‘Newsroom and the Awards share some important values,’ says Gregory Fortuin, Chair of the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.
‘We’re both interested in the progress of Aotearoa and in how New Zealanders exercise their democratic rights. At the Awards we believe that clear communication is the democratic right of every New Zealander.’
What this partnership means for the Awards
As our media partner, Newsroom will be helping to spread the word about our Awards. They’ll also officially announce our winners on Thursday, 28 November. We’ll direct you to their site for these announcements, if you don’t get there earlier. And all other announcements, including shortlists and finalists, will continue to be published on our Awards site.
When to look out for results
Our judges’ decisions will be announced on the following dates.
Nicola Welby August 28th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear writing, improved writing, Industry awards, People's Choice Awards, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, sponsors, writing for the public
Who’s the best and who’s the worst? Our panel of expert judges will make this year’s tough decisions. Image by Emily Morter. Unsplash licence.
Every year we’re honoured to enlist the support of plain language specialists from around New Zealand and the world to judge entries and nominations in our Awards. This year’s People’s Choice Awards are no different.
The exciting task of deciding who’s best
For our Best Communication category, we’re delighted to announce Deanna Lorianni, communications strategist from Virginia, USA, as panel chair. She’ll be joined by plain language specialists Emma Fossey in Scotland and Paula Shelton in Auckland. Together Deanna, Emma, and Paula will make the tough decision on which of your nominations is this year’s plain language superstar.
The difficult job of sorting bad from worse
For our Brainstrain category, we’re lucky enough to have the expert eye of two judges who’ve been part of this panel for several years: Simon Hertnon from Nakedize, who’ll be chairing the panel, and Sue Chetwin from Consumer — we’re excited to have them back! Simon and Sue will be joined by the equally valuable Paula van Gemen, plain language specialist from the Netherlands.
Read more about who’s on this year’s judging panels
Nicola Welby August 22nd, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Judges
Tags: Best Plain English Communication, Brainstrain, clear thinking, clear writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, PEA, People's Choice Awards, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, Worst Brainstrain, writing for the public
Do you know of a document that makes about as much sense as a bear doing aquayoga? Let us know! Image by Ryan Grewell. Unsplash licence.
It shouldn’t take more than one reading to decipher a passage of text.
How often do you ponder a passage of text that you just can’t untangle on one reading? Every day, I expect. Today’s special for me was an email from a software firm that included terms like ‘personalisation’, ‘confidentiality provision’, ‘ecosystem partners’, ‘beta participants’, ‘busywork’ — and more!
One or two of these terms I could manage and, to be fair, the writer was trying to summarise a larger document that was even more complex. But the two very long paragraphs in the email were jam-packed with similar terms. So the overall result was that the email missed its mark. The text was dense and difficult to decipher, so I didn’t really bother to try.
Tell us about giving up on gobbledygook
Gobbledygook hides the main messages. The reader has to struggle to understand. And that makes our busy lives even busier. If they give up, they’ve wasted their time. It’s not okay.
The People’s Choice Awards give you the chance to find examples of gobbledygook in everyday communications and dob them in. Nominate the worst communications you’ve found for the Brainstrain Award. You can nominate documents or webpages from government or business organisations.
We’d love to hear from you so we can help to stamp out gobbledygook. This is your chance to change the way New Zealand communicates!
Find out how to nominate here
Find out about the 2018 Brainstrain winner here
Nicola Welby August 19th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear thinking, clear writing, improved writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, PEA, People's Choice Awards, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
We’re thrilled to welcome Chloe Wright of the Wright Family Foundation as our new patron.
Chloe’s background and interests make her the perfect fit for the role of patron. The Trust and the working group that organises the Awards are thrilled to have her on board.
Chloe herself is equally thrilled!
‘I’m honoured that you’ve invited me to be patron of the Plain English Awards. I can see the huge potential in the Plain English Awards, and commend you for what you’ve achieved in the past 14 years. The Awards’ goals of making plain English a natural part of everyday business and government communication is something I strongly support.
‘So often people don’t want to say that they can’t understand an official document or form. They think it’s because they lack some knowledge or skill — when mostly the problem lies in the writing they’re trying to untangle.
‘I’m going to embrace being patron of the Plain English Awards, because I’m passionate about championing people’s right to understand.’
Read more about Chloe Wright
Find out more about the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust
Nicola Welby August 13th, 2019
Posted In: Communications, People
Tags: People's Choice Awards 2019, Plain English Awards
What happens to the documents you've nominated once they're entered? Image by Lorie Shaull. Flickr licence.
Submitting your entry in this year’s People’s Choice Awards is one thing. What happens to your entry after that is another.
Your nomination joins the list so experts can decide who’s best and worst
After you submit a nomination, it joins a catalogue of other entries in our professional submission platform Submittable, where it’ll sit until entries officially close. Soon after that, the Awards administrators open up entries for the Best and Worst categories to their respective judging panels.
Our judges then sort through entries to come up with a shortlist, followed by a more in-depth assessment to create a list of finalists.
Finally, the judges decide which entries are our ultimate winners. This year’s winners will be announced on Thursday, 28 November.
The judges assess the entries using plain English criteria
Because our Awards are all about plain English, our judges use specific criteria to decide which entries are best and which are worst. These criteria are based on the following aspects of clear communication:
- Purpose
- Structure
- Usability (for websites)
- Headings and main messages
- Paragraphs
- Sentences
- Words
- Layout and presentation
Read more about our judging criteria
Find out how to nominate communications
Thanks to the Wellington band Fly My Pretties for being the inspiration for our blog title! Visit their website flymypretties.com
Nicola Welby July 17th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Judges
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear thinking, clear writing, improved writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, PEA, People's Choice Awards, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
Consumer NZ wants the best for New Zealand communication. Image by Daria Nepriakhina. Unsplash licence.
The Plain English Awards and Consumer NZ have something very important in common — we both want what’s best for New Zealanders.
The Plain English Awards is a not-for-profit charity that aims to raise the bar for clear communication. We want everyday New Zealanders to understand what’s written for them.
Consumer NZ is a non-profit organisation dedicated to getting New Zealanders a fairer deal. So it’ll be no surprise that Consumer NZ is a long-term supporter of the Plain English Awards. In particular, Consumer NZ has supported our People’s Choice categories for many years.
Consumer’s Chief Executive, Sue Chetwin, has been a member of our judging panel for several years, focusing specifically on our People’s Choice categories. She’s returning again this year as one of the panel judging our Worst Brainstrain category.
We’re sure you’ll join us too by nominating the best and the worst communications you find in your daily life. All of us want New Zealanders to be able to make legal, financial, health, and all sorts of other decisions with ease.
Take a look at what Consumer NZ has to say about this year’s People’s Choice Awards
Find out how to nominate documents here
Nicola Welby July 12th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Sponsors
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear writing, Consumer NZ, Industry awards, PEA, People's Choice Awards, People's Choice Awards 2019, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
Winning the People's Choice Award will have you jumping for joy. Image by Andre Hunter. Unsplash licence.
Whether you enter an award yourself or someone else nominates you, taking out a title brings plenty of benefits for the winner. This year’s People’s Choice Awards have prizes for the best — and the worst!
Best confirms that all your hard work was worth it
The highlight of winning our Best Plain English Communication category is probably the public recognition. Winners know that a member of the public thought something they created was a worthy entry for the Awards. And our international panel of judges thought it was the best in its class.
That’s not all though. Winners also receive:
- a stunning steel and bronze trophy produced for the Awards by Wellington sculptor Campbell Maud
- a single-use licence for StyleWriter plain English editing software
- a place on any of Write Limited’s 1-day open workshops.
Worst gives you a chance to turn things around
You might think that anyone ‘unlucky’ enough to win our Brainstrain category would have nothing to be happy about (except perhaps the bag of sour worms they’re given). But that’s definitely not the case. They actually have plenty to celebrate.
Winning the notorious Brainstrain category often acts as a catalyst for organisations to rethink their communications — and ultimately what their audience needs. Winners are forced to take a good hard look at the way they write, and work out how they can improve.
Winners get hugely valuable feedback from our judges about their communication. One previous winner used the feedback to revamp their communication. They did such an impressive job that it won the Best Plain English Turnaround Award the following year.
Winners of the Brainstrain category also receive:
- the (in)famous Brainstrain rubbish bin filled with sour worms
- a single-use licence for StyleWriter plain English editing software
- 2 hours free consultancy from Write Limited to start transforming the document or webpage into plain English
- a place on any of Write Limited’s 1-day open workshops.
Take a look at past Award winners on our website
Nicola Welby June 17th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards
Tags: Best Plain English Document, Brainstrain, People's Choice Awards, Plain English Awards, Plain English Awards 2019, Worst Brainstrain
It's time for the public to have their say! Image by Jon Tyson. Unsplash licence
We’re ready to roll with the Awards in 2019 — and we’ve got some exciting plans to tell you about.
We’ll alternate between the Plain English Awards and the People’s Choice Awards
As you might imagine, it takes a tonne of support and time and resources to bring together annual awards. We’re now in our 14th year, and we know that our momentum is strong and that people’s appetite for plain English continues to grow.
After lots of planning and consideration, we’ve decided to alternate between having the full Plain English Awards one year and the People’s Choice Awards the next. Having held the full Awards last year in 2018, this means we’re focusing on the People’s Choice only in 2019.
Some of you will remember that the idea of holding the People’s Choice Awards on their own is actually not a new one. You may recall we held them on their own in 2016, to coincide with the Clarity2016 conference here in Wellington.
Entries for this year’s People’s Choice Awards will open on Saturday, 1 June
Once entries are open, members of the public will be able to nominate an outstanding communication of their choice for the People’s Choice — Best Plain English Communication.
People will also be able to nominate a miserable communication for the notorious People’s Choice — Worst Brainstrain Communication.
Entries in the People’s Choice Awards are free and will be judged by a panel of plain language specialists from New Zealand and overseas.
We’re planning a mid-year Awards ceremony
Another result of our planning is that we’ve decided to aim for a mid-year ceremony. Traditionally we’ve celebrated our winners in November. However, after this year, entries will open near the end of the year and we’ll celebrate winners the following winter. Because who doesn’t love a good mid-winter celebration?!
What about next year’s full Plain English Awards?
Entries for the 2020 Plain English Awards will open in November this year. We’ll give you plenty of information before then, so keep your eye out for our newsletters and other publicity. Subscribe to our newsletter
Thanks for following and supporting the annual Plain English Awards. You all play a big part in making these Awards a valuable and exciting event.
Nicola Welby May 9th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Communications, Industry awards, People's Choice awards
Tags: Brain Strain Awards, People's Choice Awards, Plain English Awards
