Auditor General's Office takes plain English award

Office of the Auditor General takes premier plain English Award

Media release: WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust

3 September 2010

EMBARGOED UNTIL 11PM, FRIDAY 3 SEPTEMBER

Winners of the WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards were announced tonight at a ceremony in the Beehive, with top honours going to the Office of the Auditor General.

The Office was judged New Zealand’s best plain English organisation for its overall commitment to clarity. Their $10,000 prize will be spent on a plain English research project at the Office. Judges described the entry as very strong across all critical success factors.

The Auditor General makes sure public sector organisations and local governments perform according to Parliament’s intentions. Manager of Reports and Communications, Lynley Jenkins, says it’s vital that people can easily understand and act on what the Auditor General says.

“We set out to make clear, accurate writing a part of our everyday working life and trained all 300 of our staff at seven locations in plain English writing skills.

“All forms of our writing have improved—from emails to our document templates to our major published reports—and we're determined to continue improving. 

“We are delighted to have won this award because it recognises the hard work of everyone involved, and encourages us to continue building.”

ACC’s Handling Cattle Safely won in the Best Plain English Document—Public Sector category. Judges commended its conversational yet persuasive tone, saying reading it was like yarning with a fellow farmer while receiving vital information.

The Best Plain English Document—Private Sector Award was won by Sonar6, a company that develops Human Resources materials. Judges said its performance review documents tackled a dry and highly sensitive topic in a colourful, inventive and dynamic way that “couldn't help but engage”.

A new Award this year for Best Plain English Technical Communicator was won by Meredith Evans of documentation firm Streamliners NZ. Meredith impressed the judges with her ability to explain complex subjects in plain language and for her use of supporting illustrations.

Judge Dr Neil James, Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation inw:st="on" Sydney , said standards had lifted once again and the best entries went well beyond plain words and into design and structure.

“Even the best-drafted text will not reach the highest standards if its structure is unbalanced or the design makes it hard to navigate,” he said.

Altogether 13 Awards were handed out at the ceremony, with four of these going to documents or websites nominated by the public. These include Brainstrain Awards, which are reserved for badly written documents that could cause people problems.

The Commerce Commission received a Brainstrain Award for the Anti-competitive pricing section of its website which, judges said, started off well but soon ‘turned to molasses’.  The Office for Senior Citizens received a Brainstrain Award for its brochure Home Equity Release Code of Practice due to its convoluted sentences and potential to confuse.

Peter Hughes, Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development, which runs the Office for Senior Citizens, accepted the award as an unwelcome but well-deserved win.

"No excuses – we've let ourselves and older people down with this one. The code is being rewritten and will be released soon in a version much easier to read.

“It’s a shame because elsewhere in the Plain English Awards, the Ministry of Social Development has done really well.”

The Ministry’s Child Youth and Family won in the Best Plain English Website—Public Sector category and was a finalist in the Best Plain English Document—Public Sector category.

Tonight’s Awards ceremony was held at the Banquet Hall at Parliament and hosted by Hon Christopher Finlayson, Attorney-General and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.  The Plain English Awards are an annual not-for-profit event run by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.

Note: A full list of finalists and winners is attached.

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2010 WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards

Winners and finalists

EMBARGOED UNTIL 11PM, 3 SEPTEMBER 2010.

Winners and finalists do not know who they are and must not be contacted before the 11pm embargo.

Category 1

Plain English Champion—Best Organisation

Winner

Office of the Auditor-General

Finalists

• Cancer Society of New Zealand

• Statistics New Zealand

Plain English Champion—Best Project

Winner

InfraTrain New Zealand—Horizontal Drilling (HDD) Qualification & Resource Development

Finalists

• Ministry of Justice—Civil Justice in the District Courts of New Zealand

• Ministry of Social Development—Integrity Services Letters

Plain English Champion—Best Individual or Team

Winner

Stephen Leong—Transpower New Zealand Ltd

Finalists

• Cancer Society of New Zealand

• Statistics New Zealand

Category 2

Best Plain English Document—Public Sector/Non-Government Organisation (NGO)

Winner

ACC Handling Cattle Safely

Finalists

Child, Youth and Family When We Visit

InfraTrain New Zealand Horizontal Directional Drilling Guide

Best Plain English Document—Private Sector

Winner

Sonar6 Performance Review Marketing Materials

Finalists

House of Travel Our Business is Your Business Travel

PORSE Let’s PORSE

Category 3

Best Plain English Website—Public Sector/Non-Government Organisation (NGO)

Winner

Child, Youth and Family www.cyf.govt.nz

Finalists

Career Services www.careers.govt.nz

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority www.energywise.govt.nz

Best Plain English Website—Private Sector

Winner

The Wheeling Gourmet http://en.wheelinggourmet.com

Finalists

Kiwitax www.kiwitax.co.nz

Martelli McKegg Wells & Cormack www.martellimckegg.co.nz

Category 4

Best Sentence Transformation

Please note: The judging panel ranked four finalists (including winner) as two good entries were of equal merit

Winner

Alan Groves—Transpower New Zealand Ltd

Finalists

Judith Wright—Statistics New Zealand

Maryland Spencer—ACC

Alison Smith—Thames–Coromandel District Council

Category 5

Best Plain English Technical Communicator

Winner

Meredith Evans—Streamliners NZ Ltd

Finalists

Erwin Timmerman—Dynamic Controls

Lesley Hanes—Statistics New Zealand

Category 6

People’s Choice—Best Plain English Document

Winner

BT Funds Management (NZ) Limited Multi Sector Unit Trusts Investment Statement

Finalists

Elections New Zealand Enrolment Form

People’s Choice—Best Plain English Website

Winner

NZ Transport Agency www.nzta.govt.nz

Finalists

Air New Zealand Grabaseat

http://flightbookings.airnewzealand.co.nz/vgrabview/en_NZ/

IRD Child Support

www.ird.govt.nz/childsupport

People’s Choice—‘Brainstrain’ Document

Winner

Office for Senior Citizens Home Equity Release: Code of Practice

Finalists

NZ Post International Registered Mail prepaid envelope

People’s Choice—‘Brainstrain’ Website

Winner

Commerce Commission

www.comcom.govt.nz/anti-competitive-practices/

Finalists

New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS)

www.gets.govt.nz/default.aspx?show=HomePage

Massey University Bachelor of Communication 

www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/programme-course-paper/programme.cfm?prog_id=93330

ENDS