Judge: Best Plain Language Sentence Transformation

Editor and Proofreader, Clearlingo, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Marja is an editor and proofreader, working with corporate and government clients. She recognises the importance of plain language, and enjoys turning complex writing into user-friendly content. She launched her business, Clearlingo, 8 years ago.

Clear communication has always fascinated Marja. Growing up bilingual in English and Dutch exposed her to different styles of communication and sparked her love of language. This background, and her degrees in languages and speech pathology, have helped her understand how different audiences process language.

Marja has been enthusiastic about plain language since discovering it several years ago. It suits her style of clear, no-fuss communication. She enjoys interpreting what the writer intended, and helping clients change their mindset to keeping the reader in mind.

Marja is an Accredited Editor through the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd), and an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). She is a strong advocate for the editing industry, helping form the New Zealand branch of IPEd in 2019 and serving as a member on the branch committee until recently. She is currently helping IPEd revise its Standards for Editing Practice.

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