Winners in the 2021 annual Plain English Awards were announced at an online ceremony earlier today. More than a hundred
people attended the virtual ceremony, including many Awards supporters from outside New Zealand.Two Champion winners
The award for the Plain English Champion — Best Organisation went to Citizens Advice Bureau New Zealand (CAB). Lead
judge for the category Matt Huntington said he was particularly impressed by CAB’s understanding of how communicating
clearly is key to their effectiveness.
‘And then they take it one extra step to acknowledge the importance of communicating with empathy and respect on top of
that!’ Matt says. ‘The fact that they can do this successfully while relying on such a large and diverse group of
volunteers is a testament to their grounding in plain language communications.’
Entries for the Awards opened up to Australia for the first time this year. And one of the Australian entries was
awarded the Plain English Champion — Best Individual or Team. Lauren Kelindeman, from law firm Legalite in Melbourne,
was praised by judges for her exemplary work. Legalite was also a finalist in the Plain English Champion — Best
Organisation category.
‘Lauren’s commitment to plain English shines bright in the amount of work she’s done and the quality of the advice she’s
created,’ says judge Steph Prince.In praise of clear documents and websites
The award for the Best Plain English Document in the private sector went to Ryman Healthcare for its myRyman Life eLearning tool. Health Navigator NZ took out the public sector award with its leaflet on treating type 2 diabetes, Empagliflozin.
The Best Plain English Website award for the public sector went to the Ministry of Social Development for the website www.youthservice.govt.nz. No entries made it to winner status in the private sector award for this category in 2021.Rethinking a document or website to improve it
The Best Plain English Turnaround award went to Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency for its turnaround of The New Zealand code for cycling.Legal, Annual Report, and Technical Communicator categories
Southern Cross Travel Insurance took out the Best Legal Document award for its Domestic Travel Insurance Policy Document.
National Trauma Network won Best Plain English Annual Report for its New Zealand Trauma Registry Annual Report 2019/20.
The Best Plain English Technical Communicator was the team at thinkstep-anz.Spotlight on the humble sentence
Auckland City Council won the award for Best Plain English Sentence Transformation.People’s Choice — the best ‘but no worst’
Several top-notch entries were submitted by members of the public for the People’s Choice — Best Plain English
Communication category. Kiwibank won this award for its letter We’re improving our home loan documents.
One of the judges of this entry said, ‘Taking complex subject matter such as home loans and making it accessible is not
easy. Kiwibank have done an excellent job in communicating this, and on a single A4 sheet! Bravo!’
And in what is thought to be a first for the Plain English Awards, no entries were received for the notorious People’s
Choice — Worst Brainstrain award. Lead judge for this category Simon Hertnon says he’d like to think that this is a good
sign: ‘A sign that people are putting more thought into their communications. That the plain language message is getting
through.’Telling stories to inspire others
The theme of this year’s Awards was ‘Story!’ Awards founder and CE of plain language consultancy Write Limited Lynda
Harris says:
‘The goal of sharing stories is to help people understand the “why” behind different plain language projects. That is,
why a plain language approach was vitally important for that project, and how it helped its success.
‘By telling people’s stories, we want to shine a light on the impact of people’s efforts. And to give the public a
glimpse behind the scenes of plain language as it plays out in the lives of individuals and organisations. Ultimately,
we’d like people to be inspired to take similar approaches.’Thanks to Awards sponsors
Sponsors play a key part in keeping the Plain English Awards going. Organisers would like to thank the following
organisations for their support: WriteMark Limited, Write Limited, the Wright Family Foundation, Graphic Solutions, NZ
Super Fund, Newsroom, Streamliners, TechCommNZ, Skillset, printing.com, MoneyHub, Consumer, Shelly Davies, Community
Comms Collective, Editor Software (UK), Informed Investor magazine, Kendons, and Modica Group.Find out more
See the full list of winners and finalists at www.plainenglishawards.org.nz