Winners announced in 2013 Plain English Awards
Winners announced in 2013 Plain English
Awards
3 December 2013
The Ministry of Social Development was the big winner at the 2013 Plain English Awards. The Ministry won the supreme award for Plain English Champion — Best Organisation at the ceremony tonight in Wellington.
Awards newcomer, ANZ, scooped a win in four categories, showing that plain language can triumph over financial speak in even the most complex of documents. ANZ was also a finalist in three other categories, plainly showing a commitment to clear communication.
The Best Plain English Turnaround award was won by Inland Revenue, who achieved their goal of making the new tax guides ‘relevant and readable’.
The State Services Commission had the dubious honour of winning the Worst ‘Brainstrain’ communication.
Winners received a stunning trophy made by Wellington sculptor Campbell Maud. MC for the evening, comedian and lawyer James Elliott, added his own brand of off-beat humour to the serious business of fighting officialise and obfuscation.
‘Good
understanding of clients’ needs’
The panel
of international judges praised the Ministry of Social
Development’s commitment to plain English, saying the
organisation showed a ‘good understanding of their
clients’ needs’.
In response to their success, the Ministry of Social Development said they were delighted with their win.
‘Over the past two years, the Ministry has been implementing the Government’s welfare reform programme, representing the biggest changes to the welfare system in 50 years. Most of Work and Income’s forms, brochures, and web pages were revised to reflect these changes and we took the opportunity to make sure information was easy for clients to understand and use. Clients, stakeholders and staff were extensively consulted in the development and testing of communications,’ says Emily Fulford, Advisor — Planning, Performance and Governance.
The Ministry’s win follows their win of the 2012 Best Turnaround award, in which they received high praise for redrafting the student loan contract that had previously won a Brainstrain award.
This year’s win gave the Ministry a prize package worth $10,000 from New Zealand’s plain English specialists and major sponsor, Write Limited.
‘Management speak at its
best’
Winners of the dreaded People’s Choice
— Worst ‘Brainstrain’ award, the State Services
Commission, were applauded for fronting up to receive their
prize — a shiny stainless-steel bin filled with sour worm
lollies. Judges said their advertisement for a Director of
Continuous Improvement was ‘outstanding’ and
‘management speak at its best’. ‘We had no idea of
what sort of person was being sought or what qualifications
would best suit the position.’
The State Services
Commission says the win was a timely reminder to take their
own medicine and make improvements. Plain English Awards
Trust chair, Gregory Fortuin, commented that the Brainstrain
award usually gave organisations a big incentive to change
the way they
communicate.
People,
organisations, and specialist documents all
honoured
Other awards were picked up by
well-known names in both the public and private
sectors:
• Environmental Protection Authority (Best
Public Sector Document)
• Accident Compensation
Corporation (Best Public Sector Website)
• Equinox IT
(Best Private Sector Website)
• Xero (Best Sentence
Transformation)
• Statistics New Zealand (a tie with
ANZ Wealth for Plain English Champion — Best Individual or
Team)
• Kylie Mason, Ministry of Health (Best Technical
Communicator).
Awards
sponsors
Sponsors for this year’s Awards
included Write Limited, NZ Superannuation Fund, Consumer NZ,
BusinessNZ, UDC Finance, Sysdoc, Technical Communicators
Association of New Zealand, Chris Mitchell Design,
Printing.com, NZ Post, and Editor Software.
*****
The full list of winners and finalists is below.
Winner’s media statements will be available from www.plainenglishawards.org.nz later in the evening of 3 December 2013.
Full list of winners and finalists
Plain English
Champion — Best Organisation
Winner:
Ministry of Social Development
Finalists:
• ANZ
• Department of
Internal Affairs
• Office of the Electricity and Gas
Complaints Commissioner
Plain English Champion
— Best Individual or Team
Winners:
(tied)
• ANZ Wealth
• Statistics New Zealand
— Editorial Team
Finalist: Department of
Internal Affairs — Digital Engagement Team
Best
Plain English Document — Public Sector / Non-Government
Organisation (NGO)
Winner: Environmental
Protection Authority — Hazardous Substances
Toolbox
Finalists:
• Ministry of Social Development
— SKIP Tips for Parents
• Standards New
Zealand — Standards Council Statement of Intent 2013
– 2016
Best Plain English Document —
Private Sector
Winner: ANZ — ANZ
KiwiSaver Scheme Investment Statement
Finalists:
• ANZ — Memorandum of
Mortgage
• Thorn Rentals NZ Ltd (trading as dtr)
— Flip charts
Best Plain English Website —
Public Sector / Non-Government Organisation
(NGO)
Winner: Accident Compensation
Corporation — www.acc.co.nz/disability
Finalists:
• Careers
New Zealand — www.careers.govt.nz
• St Mary's
Early Childhood Education Centre — www.stmaryschildcare.org.nz
Best
Plain English Website — Private
Sector
Winner: Equinox IT —
www.equinox.co.nz
Finalists:
• ANZ
— www.anz.co.nz/futurewise
• Martelli McKegg — www.martellimckegg.co.nz
Best
Plain English Sentence
Transformation
Winner: Xero — Kylie
McGrath’s sentence from 'Add or edit a fixed
asset'
Finalists:
• Xero — Ros Black’s
sentence from 'Foreign currency bills and
invoices'
• Xero — Kylie McGrath’s sentence from
'View customer or supplier contact details'
Best
Plain English Technical
Communicator
Winner: Kylie Mason,
Ministry of Health
Finalists:
• Chloe
Hooper, Statistics New Zealand
• Ros Black,
Xero
Best Plain English Investor
Document
Winner: ANZ — ANZ KiwiSaver
Scheme Investment Statement
Finalists:
• AMP Services (NZ) Ltd — AMP KiwiSaver Scheme
Investment Statement
• ANZ — OneAnswer
KiwiSaver Scheme Investment Statement and OnePath
KiwiSaver Scheme Investment Statement (tied due to being
similar)
Best Plain English
Turnaround
Winner: Internet and
Publishing Team, Inland Revenue — IR 240 and IR
333 information guides
Finalists:
• ANZ
— Memorandum of Mortgage
• Department of
Internal Affairs — from www.newzealand.govt.nz to beta.govt.nz
• Thorn Rentals NZ Ltd
(trading as dtr) — Flip charts
People's Choice
— Best Plain English
Communication
Winner: ANZ — ANZ
KiwiSaver Scheme Investment Statement
Finalist:
High Court of New Zealand — The
Hutt City Council v The Lower Hutt District Court &
Ors
People's Choice — Worst 'Brainstrain' Communication
Winner: State
Services Commission — Job description: Director —
Continuous Improvement
Finalist: Hamilton City
Council — Hatch, Match and Dispatch
factsheet
ENDS