Plain Language Awards

Celebrate the stories of our clearest business communicators

2008 Awards

Congratulations to the winners and finalists in the 2008 WriteMark Plain English Awards

And the winners are...

Congratulations to our 2008 plain language heroes


Plain English Champion — Best Organisation

Winner: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise


Plain English Champion — Best Project

Winner: Ministry of Education — Team-Up

Finalist: Retail Institute — Customer service award

Finalist: Ministry for Culture and Heritage — Te Ara: Encyclopedia of New Zealand


Plain English Champion — Best Individual

Winner: Deborah Morris — Barnardos New Zealand

Finalist: Beverley Stevens — nzfishing.com


Best Plain English Document — Public / NGO Sector

Winner: Cancer Society of New Zealand — Talking to a friend with cancer

Finalist: Greater Wellington Regional Council — Our region (March/April 2008)

Finalist: New Zealand Guidelines Group — Atrial fibrillation


Best Plain English Document — Private Sector

Winner: ASB — Kiwisaver: It all stacks up

Finalist: A J Park — Client charter

Finalist: Deloitte — Hello from consulting


Best Plain English Website — Public / NGO Sector

Winner: Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Finalist: Department of Conservation

Finalist: Northland Regional Council


Best Plain English Website — Private Sector

Winner: Seafood Industry Training Organisation

Finalist: David Flaws Employment Advocate

Finalist: RaboPlus

Finalist: BRANZ Limited (Honourable Mention)


Best Sentence Transformation

Winner: Steelbro New Zealand Limited

Finalist: MAF Biosecurity New Zealand

Finalist: Palmerston North City Library


People’s Choice — Best Plain English Document

Winner: Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management — Drop, cover and hold still the best advice

Finalist: Balance New Zealand Bipolar & Depression Network — Someone you care about has a mood disorder

Finalist: Auckland Regional Public Health Service — Cervical screening smear result


People’s Choice — Best Plain English Website

Winner: Land Transport New Zealand

Finalist: Metlink

Finalist: Child, Youth and Family


People’s Choice — ‘Brainstrain’ Document

Winner: Pacific Blue — Terms and conditions of carriage

Finalist: Bright Star Conferences — 2nd annual business intelligence summit

Finalist: Ministry of Education — AsTTle: Learning pathways report for test


People’s Choice — ‘Brainstrain’ Website

Winner: Embassy of the United States, Wellington, New Zealand

Finalist: ACC

Finalist: Qantas