Have you heard the news? Our judges have chosen their finalists. Image by Rakicevic Nenad. Pexels license.
They said it wasn’t an easy task. However, after running over their shortlisted entries with a fine-tooth comb, our judges have settled on this year’s finalists.
Who are our Best finalists?
The following nominations are finalists in our People’s Choice — Best Plain English Communication category:
Who are our Brainstrain finalists?
The following nominations are finalists in our People’s Choice — Worst Brainstrain category:
- Auckland City Council — Proposed Plan Change letter
- Christchurch City Council — Te Wai Ora o Tāne Draft Integrated Water Strategy
- Rabo Capital Securities Limited — Redemption Notice letter
What happens next
Our judges in each category will now review their selected entries and decide on a winner. Our media partner, Newsroom, will announce this year’s winners on their website on Thursday, 28 November.
Rhiannon Davies October 18th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain, Finalists, Industry awards
Tags: Best Plain English Communication, Finalists, People's Choice 2019, Worst Brainstrain
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
A helping hand can come from the most unlikely places. Image by Youssef Naddam. Unsplash licence.
In times of trouble, who might you expect to get help from? Friends, family, colleagues, or your close community all might offer to lend a hand. It’s not often that a complete stranger jumps in to help. Particularly one that’s disguised as an industry award with the title ‘Brainstrain’.
Meet your new friend — the Brainstrain Award
The People’s Choice Awards offer members of the public an opportunity to celebrate excellent communications and to draw attention to bad ones — through the Brainstrain Award.
Winning the Brainstrain Award is like being offered a helping hand from a stranger. We say ‘stranger’ because all nominations are anonymous (and free).
The ‘helping hand’ is an opportunity for the winner to turn their communication around and make it better than ever. (And maybe even enter the Turnaround Award in the next round of full Plain English Awards in 2020.)
The Brainstrain winner gets some plain English love
The winning nomination gets the unenviable title of ‘People’s Choice — Worst Brainstrain Communication’. Sure, the word ‘Brainstrain’ doesn’t sound that great. But when you read what else winners receive, the title becomes a little less ominous.
Our beloved Brainstrain winner receives not only the famous Brainstrain rubbish bin filled with sour worms, but also some very constructive feedback and training in the form of:
- feedback on their communication (and how it could be improved) from our expert panel of international judges
- the latest StyleWriter plain English editing software — single-user licence (from Editor 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 to use before 31 March 2020.
Do your bit for improving New Zealand’s communication. Submit your nominations for this year’s Brainstrain Award
Nicola Welby June 26th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain, Communications
Tags: Brainstrain, People's Choice Awards, plain language, Worst Brainstrain
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
Do you know someone whose writing makes you prickly? Nominate them for the 2019 Brainstrain award.
If you’ve been marking off the days on your calendar, you’ll know the time has come. Nominations for the 2019 People’s Choice Awards opened last Saturday.
Success worth being proud of
What we love about the People’s Choice Awards, and what many of you have told us you love too, is how our winners react to their success. Winners of our People’s Choice Best category are invariably enormously proud — and rightly so! Who wouldn’t be? Your work will have been singled out by a member of the public, judged against other outstanding entries, and deemed by the international judging panel to be the best!
Recognition to take in good humour
What about the winner of our award for the worst communication? Our Worst Brainstrain category recognises a document or website that a member of the public has found confusing, frustrating, obscure, or downright horrible. With all the potential fallout from winning this unenviable title, we love that our winners invariably accept their ‘success’ in good humour. And they see it as an opportunity to start over again, so that their communication serves its audience better.
Check out the acceptance speeches by some past winners of the People’s Choice Worst Brainstrain award:
Nicola Welby June 5th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain, Winners
Tags: Best Plain English Document, Brainstrain, People's Choice, Worst Brainstrain
