The Plain Language Awards are a public pat on the back for plain language champions, and help raise the bar for clear communication

Nominate the best and the worst for an award

The Plain Language Awards

The Awards are organised by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.

The Awards aim to:

• improve government and business documents so that all New Zealanders can understand them
• raise public awareness of the need for, and benefits of, plain language
• create a public preference for organisations that choose to communicate in plain language.

Independent panels of plain language experts and advocates judge the entries and decide on the finalists and winners in each category.

Are the Awards still making a difference?

What is plain language?

Plain language, or plain English, is a style of writing in which the language, structure, and presentation of a document all work together to help the reader. A document written in plain language is easy to read, understand, and act upon after just one reading.

Plain language enables people to participate in government, commercial, legal, and leisure activities more effectively because they can understand the information presented to them. Plain language also has proven benefits for organisations that use it in their communications — including significant cost savings and better engagement with customers.

The movement to replace ‘gobbledygook’ in official and business documents with plain language began in Britain in the 1970s. The plain language movement now involves government agencies, businesses, corporations, consultants, voluntary organisations, and networking groups around the world.

Learn more about plain language

WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust

The Plain Language Awards are run by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.

Read more about the Trust here