4 weeks left to enter the Plain English Awards

4 weeks left to enter the Plain English Awards

If you’ve written a communication that’s clear, simple, and easy to understand, now’s the time to enter this year’s Plain English Awards.

Entries for this year’s Awards close at 6pm on Thursday 31 August. That means you’ve got 4 weeks left to ensure you’re in the running to get your plain English communication, or your team’s communication, the recognition it deserves.

The annual Plain English Awards are a public pat on the back for plain English champions. They celebrate communications that make it easy for New Zealanders to access their rights and be informed about things that are important to them.

‘An important communication written in plain English can have a major positive impact,’ says Awards Chair Gregory Fortuin.

‘Think about being able to quickly understand your insurance policy during an emergency, or to clearly understand your rights when borrowing money. Plain English makes all the difference.’

If your whole organisation is committed to plain English, you’ll be a contender for the premier award – Plain English Champion: Best Organisation. This award comes with a prize worth $5,000! You’ll probably also have suitable entries for Best Project, and Best Individual or Team, along with Best Annual Report.

Other categories that might suit you are Best Document (public or private sector), Best Website, Best Technical Communicator, and the ‘before and after’ category – Best Turnaround.

If you’re rushed for time, even a humble sentence can win you a trophy. Find a terrible sentence at your place (they’re lurking everywhere), rewrite it plainly, and enter the Best Plain English Sentence Transformation.

If you’ve ever gone to a badly organised webpage that made you wade through waffle, or received a terms and conditions document that made your eyes glaze over, you’ll be pleased to know you can help right the wrong! The People’s Choice Brainstrain category was created to put offending documents under the spotlight and encourage the organisations responsible to mend their ways.

You can enter any document or website (other than your own) that has the potential to frustrate or confuse, or doesn’t do the job it should do.

Or, if you find a praiseworthy document or website that deserves recognition, you can enter it in the People’s Choice Best Communication category.

Enter the 2017 Plain English Awards through our website: http://www.plainenglishawards.org.nz/enter-the-2017-plain-english-awards/
ENDS

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