Technical communicators keep the wheels turning with clear communications. Now’s your time to shine! | Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
Accomplished technical communicators are often the unsung heroes of their organisation. They produce the content that makes the wheels go round — sometimes literally!
If this feels like a familiar scenario, or you’ve produced technical information you’re particularly proud of, now is your time to shine. Enter the award for Best Plain Language Technical Communicator — the judges are very keen to hear from you!
As Louise Eades, a previous category winner, said on winning Best Technical Communicator:
Technical communication is a job where less is more and simpler is better. If your reader has to search the internet for the meaning of a word, or read a sentence three times to understand it, you’ve failed.
Technical communication is finally getting the recognition it deserves as a skilled and valuable profession. Anyone can write, but not everyone can clearly communicate technical stuff to the people who need to understand it.
With that approach in mind, here are some ideas to get you thinking about what you could include in your entry.
Tell us about your clear procedures
Tell us about the new procedures you’ve written, so that essential work can continue. Those procedures and operating instructions are so clear and easy to use that your colleagues can carry out complex activities without missing a beat.
Tell us about your user-friendly online help
Tell us about the chunks of online help files you’ve rewritten, so that customers can find answers to their questions easily. You’ve created them using clear structure and language to support your whole customer base, with its diverse language and educational backgrounds.
Tell us about your new technical specifications
Tell us about the new technical specifications or instructions that you’ve developed in double-quick time for your company’s new products. Maybe you wrote them while grappling with MadCap Flare or FrameMaker, and collaborating in Confluence too!
Show us what you’ve done as an expert technical communicator
The judges are keen to see a representative portfolio of your work, so you can send in up to five samples. Tell us the context of your documents, including their purpose and audience. The judges also recommend you showcase your plain language skills by including samples that highlight excellent structure and layout.
Read more about the Best Plain Language Technical Communicator category
Need more encouragement to enter?
Check out this fun video!
TechCommNZ’s 10 reasons to enter the 2022 Plain Language Awards
Meet the category sponsor for Best Plain Language Technical Communicator
We’re delighted that once again our long-term sponsor TechCommNZ is getting behind this award. Thanks TechCommNZ — we couldn’t do it without you!
Find out more about TechCommNZ
Anne-Marie Chisnall June 30th, 2022
Posted In: 2022 Plain Language Awards, Best Technical Communicator
Tags: Best Plain Language Technical Communicator, Best Technical Communicator, Industry awards, technical communicator, technical writing
It’s time for clarity like these crystal clear reflections at Lake Dunstan, Bendigo in Otago, New Zealand | Photo by Stewart Watson on Excio
With entries for the 2022 Awards opening very soon, we’ve been making a few changes at Awards Central!
Welcome to our new Awards coordinator
First of all, we welcome our new Awards coordinator, Shelly Shah, to the Awards Working Group. Shelly will be helping us with all aspects of the 2022 Awards — from organising the entry process and confirming sponsors and judges, right through to coordinating the Awards ceremony in late October. You’ll hear more from Shelly as we move through the various phases of the Awards.
Write Limited is proud to sponsor the Awards and provides administrative support as part of its sponsorship.
New year, new name
Have you noticed a slight change in our branding? Yes, the Awards are now called the Plain Language Awards.
Some of you commented in the survey at the end of 2021 recommending this change. Like you, we hope that changing the name of the Awards will make the event even more inclusive. And our trustees agreed unanimously with the proposal.
Changing the name of the Awards reflects the general shift to talk about ‘plain language’ in many community and business contexts, rather than ‘plain English’. You’ll have noticed that the Plain Language Bill that’s going through New Zealand’s Parliament also uses ‘plain language’ in its title!
The term ‘plain English’ is still relevant in international contexts when we wish to talk about plain English contrasted with, for example, plain Japanese or plain Spanish.
Awards founder Lynda Harris says:
We’ve been keen to update the name of the Awards for some time. But we knew we’d have a lot to do even though we’re only changing one word! We decided to make it happen for 2022. The Awards have been running for an incredible 17 years and this change feels like a fantastic refresh of our brand!
Awards patron Chloe Wright says:
‘Language’ is so relevant to today.
Our fabulous designer and long-term sponsor, Craig Christensen of Graphic Solutions, has been working his magic and is updating our branding elements and the website.
Thanks for your feedback on the 2021 Awards
Thanks to everyone who replied to our survey with their feedback. You can read the results of the survey on our website. Overall you thought the online ceremony worked well, enabling more people to join from around New Zealand and the rest of the world. And it’s great to hear that you agree the Awards are still making a difference!
Find out what people said about the Awards in 2021
Anne-Marie Chisnall May 4th, 2022
Posted In: 2022 Plain Language Awards, Communications
Tags: Industry awards, plain language, Plain Language Awards, sponsors
We’ve got lots to celebrate this year! | Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Join us to celebrate our finalists and winners at our virtual Awards ceremony on Thursday, 14 October.
Our people are at the heart of what we do
Every year we have more people involved in the Awards than you’d expect. Many of these people are behind the scenes and plenty of them not in the limelight.
We love getting lots of our people together at the end of the Awards season to celebrate our finalists and winners, and promote the benefits of clear communication. Our Awards ceremony usually happens in person, but this year we need to think differently.
We’ll celebrate online for 2021
We knew from the outset that we’d need to think laterally when planning for our 2021 ceremony. So, in place of our in-person event, we’re going to run our Awards ceremony online.
We’ll miss being able to applaud our winners in person. At the same time, we’re excited about the many opportunities running an online ceremony gives us. We definitely won’t have a seat limit in 2021! And we’re going to run the ceremony at a time that works better for some our overseas judges and entrants. A flow-on benefit will be that you’ll be able to join during the day if you’re in New Zealand.
Our Awards ceremony is right in the middle of International Plain Language Week too. So you’ve got a readymade way to get involved in an international event that celebrates clarity.
So come along, grab your friends and supporters, and join us at our online Awards ceremony. We’ll have more details for you soon. For now, make sure you pencil in 11am until 1pm on Thursday, 14 October to celebrate with us!
Oh, and did we say that registrations will be free of charge this year? See you in October!
Who’s in the running for an award in 2021?
Huge thanks to our sponsors, who make the Plain English Awards possible
Melissa Wardell September 13th, 2021
Posted In: 2021 Plain English Awards, Awards ceremony, Communications, Finalists, Judges, People's Choice awards, Plain English Awards, Winners
Tags: 2021 finalists, 2021 Plain English Awards, 2021 winners, award winners, Awards ceremony, Best Plain English Communication, clear communication, Industry awards, online ceremony, People's Choice Awards, Plain English Awards
Don’t panic! You’ve got extra time to get your Plain English Awards entries in | Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
We know what it’s like to be busy, and how difficult it can be to meet deadlines when the pressure’s on. That’s why we’re giving you extra time to submit your Plain Language Awards entries.
Entries for the 2022 Plain Language Awards will now close at 5pm on Tuesday, 2 August.
Get the recognition you deserve for your clear communications
The Plain Language Awards are one of New Zealand’s leading industry awards. Imagine how good you and your team would feel if you became a finalist … or even a winner?!
Find out more about our Awards categories
Get some inspiration from our past winners
Nominate the good and the bad for People’s Choice
Dob in a bad document, or praise an easy-to-read one! The more the public speak up and demand plain English, the easier it is for us all.
Power to the people — vote for plain!
Have you read something that strained your brain? Nominate it!
Get involved with the People’s Choice
It only takes a sentence!
If you’re short on time, enter a few beautifully transformed sentences for the Best Plain Language Sentence Transformation award.
Well-written sentences create a fine reading experience
Enter your transformed sentences by 2 August
Nicola Welby July 29th, 2021
Posted In: 2022 Plain Language Awards, Best Plain Language Sentence Transformation, Communications, Industry awards, People's Choice awards, Social good
Tags: Best Plain English Communication, clear communication, clear writing, Industry awards, People's Choice, Plain English Awards
We celebrate the generous support of our friends | Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
One of the goals behind the Awards is to create a fairer society through improving people’s access to important communications. We acknowledge that this is an ambitious goal, but it’s one that moves a step closer to reality with every bit of support we get.
Among our supporters are our judges, who are all expert plain language specialists from around the world. They seem to come back each year even keener to to help us out again!
Adding to this wonderful level of support, our sponsors are all shining examples from the community of individuals and organisations committed to doing good.
Taking care of our printing needs
For 7 years now, the Wellington branch of printing.com has been one of our loyal sponsors. We feel fortunate to have their support. As their commitment to the Awards, printing.com covers all our printing needs for the Plain English Awards.
‘We see the Awards as being extremely important for supporting the government and business sectors as they continuously improve the way they communicate with the general public of New Zealand,’ says Nathan Jennings, business development manager at printing.com.
Thank you printing.com for your ongoing support. We couldn’t do it without you and all our other friends!
Read about printing.com and our other sponsors
Become a sponsor
Melissa Wardell May 20th, 2021
Posted In: Communications, Judges, Sponsors, Sponsorship
Tags: 2021 Plain English Awards, Industry awards, judges, Social good, sponsors, Sponsorship
Are you the Champion we're looking for? Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
Are you one of our award-winning plain language Champions? After a break of almost 3 years, our premier Champion categories are back: Best Organisation and Best Individual or Team. The Award for Best Organisation is highly sought-after and you’ll join an elite band of past winners.
We know for sure that the judging team is looking forward to hearing about your plain language project. But how do you know whether the time is right to enter the Best Organisation category?
Here are five clues to help you decide if it’s your organisation’s time to shine. If any one of them is true, we recommend you enter!
1. Your organisation champions and celebrates clear communication
Clear communication is something your organisation values and rewards. Your leadership team walks the talk, promoting the benefits of clear communication throughout your organisation. You may even have gone the extra mile by working towards an external mark of quality like the WriteMark or WriteMark Plus.
Your internal documents, such as brand guidelines, policies, and newsletters, are written in plain language. Role descriptions emphasise the need to write clearly. Perhaps you even have formal KPIs for using plain language.
Let your industry peers know you’re a leader by entering the Champion category.
2. You’ve noticed better business results from clearer communication
You’ve got case studies or numbers that show improvement. Achieving a measurable return on your investment in business writing is evidence of Champion performance.
You recognise writing is more than an everyday activity in business — it can be a way to improve business success.
If you’ve cracked it, you deserve a medal!
3. You’ve had great feedback from customers about your communication style
Your customers value the way you communicate. Getting praise from customers for using plain language is praise indeed! People don’t offer praise lightly. They’re much more likely to complain about poor communication — or to say nothing at all.
Great feedback for your communication style shows you’re getting your message across in a way your customers appreciate.
We’d like to hear what brought about that success — and to tell the world about it!
4. You train your people in better business writing
Organisations that commit to a plain language culture offer their people resources and training. Writing in plain language takes skill and effort.
You train your staff to write clearly, which gives them a step up. They enjoy their writing more, and they write more efficiently.
Good on you for giving your people the tools they need to write well. That’s worth celebrating too!
5. Your organisation encourages peer review of print and online content
Peer review at key stages of a writing project is expected. People in your organisation seek out peer review as they can see the value in another person’s critique. Your peer review process uses a checklist or standard and is part of a defined process to achieve quality.
Reviewing and feedback can take place through user-testing too. Do you regularly seek feedback from real readers on your communications?
Good systems and processes are key to a Champion mindset. Enter the Awards and get some well-deserved external recognition for your work.
Preparing your Champion entry
Find out how to enter our Champion categories
Read the criteria for our Champion categories
Anne-Marie Chisnall May 5th, 2021
Posted In: 2021 Plain English Awards, Communications, Industry awards, Plain English Awards, Plain English Champion
Tags: 2021 Plain English Awards, Best Organisation, Champion, clear communication, clear writing, Industry awards, Plain English Awards, Plain English Champion
The Write team believes in the power of words for good. Photo by Jess O'Brien Photographer
Sister companies Write and WriteMark are the founding sponsors of the Plain English Awards — New Zealand’s celebration of clear communicators. With the Awards returning in 2021, both Write and WriteMark are renewing their support.
This year, Write has an extra-special reason to commit to the Awards. As Write has just become a certified B Corporation, CE Lynda Harris feels an even greater commitment to the Awards as yet another way of demonstrating impact in the world.
Lynda explains:
We believe that people have the ethical and democratic right to understand communications that are central to their lives — government forms, legal documents, financial applications and agreements, terms and conditions, and more.
Ultimately, we want people to be able to understand critical information easily, and to make key life decisions based on that information being as clear as possible.
Getting the plain language message out
The Awards celebrate the communicators who create clear, accessible documents and websites. And in doing so, the Awards help to share the message that we all benefit from plain language in so many ways.
Plain language enables us all to participate more easily in society and make important legal, financial, and health decisions based on better understanding. That’s got to be a good outcome!
Are you willing to join the call?
A plain language approach to communication means truly committing to putting customers and colleagues first — a culture-changing shift in how business and society operate. Our sponsors are joining the call for fairer, clearer communication from all sectors.
If you’re interested in supporting the 2021 Plain English Awards, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you, and we’d love to have you on our team.
Meet our sponsors
Become a sponsor
Anne-Marie Chisnall April 7th, 2021
Posted In: 2021 Plain English Awards, Communications, Sponsorship
Tags: 2021 Plain English Awards, clear communication, Industry awards, sponsors, Write Limited, WriteMark
A beautiful handmade trophy is one of several prizes in store for Accuro Health Insurance. Image by A Beautiful Photo
Winners in the 14th annual People’s Choice Awards were announced by Awards media partner Newsroom last week. The People’s Choice Awards recognise the best and worst in government and corporate communications, nominated anonymously by members of the public.
Accuro Health Insurance comes out tops
The award for the People’s Choice — Best Plain English Communication goes to Accuro Health Insurance for their website.
See the official announcement on the Newsroom website
The person who nominated this website said:
It’s a beautifully clear, simple website. I found it clear and logical.
The international panel of judges said about this entry:
This website is a very good example of plain English used to support a business to communicate clearly and in an engaging way with as many New Zealand residents and citizens as possible. I’d expect it to have a positive impact on sales to new customers and existing customer retention and engagement.
This is a very strong site. It gives a great first impression, drawing the reader in from the start. This is then followed up by concise and engaging content, and a simple-to-navigate layout that makes it easy for readers to find and do what they need to.
[Accuro has] done a good job creating a user experience that is clear and helpful, which is refreshing for an insurance organisation.
Bad news for Auckland Council
The award for the People’s Choice — Worst Brainstrain Communication goes to Auckland Council for its Proposed Plan Change letter.
See the official announcement on the Newsroom website
The person who nominated this document said:
A good friend of mine came in waving her [copy of this letter] at me, saying she had a Master’s degree in English and couldn’t understand a word of it.
The international panel of judges said about this entry:
This document is very difficult to understand, which disturbs me because it seems very important for landowners. Also, the writer portrays the content as unimportant, but I don’t think it is so, and this makes me suspicious.
The council is trying to bring a planning change to the attention of its ratepayers and residents. But it has failed miserably to think about how to get that message across in plain language. [The letter] appears to be written for people who understand council processes, not for those who will be most affected by the change.
The third component of this communication is already written in plain language, so the skills to write the rest in plain language exist. This is poor performance for a very important matter, and a huge opportunity missed. Many residents were frustrated by this communication.
New Zealanders continue to benefit after 14 years
The People’s Choice Awards are held each year and form part of the Plain English Awards. The full Plain English Awards are held every second year. Entries for the 2020 Plain English Awards will open at the end of March 2020.
After 14 years of Awards, New Zealanders continue to reap the benefits of business and government using clear communication to engage with their clients, consumers, and customers. The Awards reinforce the element of care that lies behind reader-focused communications.
Awards founder (and CE of plain language consultancy Write Limited) Lynda Harris said care is one of the qualities associated with plain English that’s closest to her heart.
People who choose to communicate in plain English do, by definition, care about their readers. They put the needs of their readers first as they think and write. They care about people, impact, and outcomes.
Awards sponsors
Sponsors for this year’s Awards included WriteMark, Write Limited, Wright Family Foundation, Graphic Solutions, Newsroom, printing.com, MoneyHub, and Consumer NZ.
Other sponsors, whose contributions to the Awards were invaluable, are Editor Software (United Kingdom), JUNO Investing Magazine, and Kendons.
Find out more
See Newsroom’s official announcement of this year’s winners
Read what our winners and finalists had to say on our winners page
For more information, contact:
Gregory Fortuin, Chair, WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust
021 465 254
Anne-Marie Chisnall December 4th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain, People's Choice awards
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear thinking, clear writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, People's Choice Awards, plain English, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
Judge Matt Huntington, left, hands over a trophy to last year’s winner of the People’s Choice Best category, Troy Churton from the Commission for Financial Capability. Photo by Rebecca McMillan.
Awards media partner Newsroom will announce the winners of this year’s People’s Choice Awards on Thursday, 28 November.
We can’t wait to find out which of our finalists have come out tops. And we’re very excited to have the support of Newsroom to help us spread the word.
James Elliott — our fabulous and funny MC at Awards presentations for the last 5 years — is continuing his support for plain language by being our star announcer.
All sorts of goodies await the winner of the Best Plain English Communication
We know our judges have been thinking long and hard about which of the top four nominations in their category deserves to win. What can the finalists, all supported by members of the public, look forward to if they win?
First of all, we’re pretty sure they’ll be celebrating their award, knowing that their communication has had a positive impact in the world.
As well, thanks to our wonderful sponsors, the winner will walk away with some fabulous prizes.
They’ll be thrilled to receive the iconic trophy in steel and bronze by Wellington sculptor Campbell Maud. They’ll enjoy using the latest StyleWriter plain English editing software from Editor Software to craft future documents.
And we think they’ll be excited to extend their skills with a place on any of Write Limited’s 1-day open workshops.
A little bit of fun for our Brainstrain winner
Our Brainstrain judges are all industry experts and take their roles very seriously. Even so, we always present the Brainstrain Award with good humour. That’s why the winner of the Worst Brainstrain Communication gets the famous Brainstrain rubbish bin filled with sour worms.
Who’ll win the notorious rubbish bin full of sour worms this year? Photo by Rebecca McMillan.
Winners of our Brainstrain category need serious prizes too! They’ll also get:
- the latest StyleWriter plain English editing software 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.
Good luck to all our People’s Choice finalists!
We look forward to finding out our winners on Thursday, 28 November. Why not join us?
Anne-Marie Chisnall November 20th, 2019
Posted In: 2019 People's Choice Awards, Brainstrain, People's Choice awards
Tags: Brain Strain Award, clear thinking, clear writing, Industry awards, jargon, jargon-busting, People's Choice Awards, plain English, plain language, power of plain English, writing for the public
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
Anne-Marie Chisnall 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
