Everything you need to know about entering the Plain Language Awards
June 2023
The basics
The Plain Language Awards are New Zealand and Australia’s official event for recognising fantastic plain language communication, stories, and champions.
The WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust run the Awards each year.
The Awards website says the Awards aim to:
- improve government and business documents so that all New Zealanders can understand them
- raise public awareness of the need for, and benefits of, plain language
- create a public preference for organisations that choose to communicate in plain language.
Entries are open now, and close on 31 July 2023.
There are 13 different categories open for entries this year.
A panel of local and international expert judges are ready and eager to:
- give you valuable feedback
- celebrate your achievements
- choose the shortlists, finalists and winners for each category.
Why we think you should enter
We know we have great plain language writers, champions and promoters among our members. We're keen to see you get the recognition you deserve. The Awards are an excellent opportunity for you to:
- get national recognition for your work
- get valuable expert feedback on your work
- show your support for the Plain Language Act 2022
- get involved with an awesome community
- win great prizes!
And, they’re lots of fun!
If you need some extra inspiration, check out our other reasons to enter in our short video:
TechCommNZ’s 10 reasons to enter the Plain Language Awards
Even if you don’t win, just making the shortlist or the finalists list is an incredible achievement and recognition all the same!
We’d like to pay your entry fee
TechCommNZ proudly sponsors the Best Plain Language Technical Communicator category. It’s open to highly-skilled technical communicators who apply plain language principles to their work. All you need are a couple of examples of your work showing excellent structure, language, and layout.
We’d love to pay the entry fee for a number of our members entering this category.
Email businessmanager@techcomm.nz to let us know you’re interested. We’ll let you know the process for reimbursing your entry fee.
Our top tips for entering
Start putting your entry together now – don't wait!
Use all the time available to put together a strong, clear entry – no last-minute rushing or stress.
Check what the entry form asks for your category sooner rather than later
Plan your responses early so you don’t need to make them up on the spot at the time you enter.
Read and become familiar with the guidelines the judges use
Spend time making sure your entry ticks all the boxes.
Plain Language criteria for documents and websites
Remember to think about the story – it's a recurring theme
Why have you done this, how does it help people, who are those people and what do they need?
You can submit a video telling your story – this could be a great opportunity for your organisation or business to highlight their commitment and effort towards plain language in a shareable and easily accessible way.
Write a clear entry
It's important the supporting information with the entry is clear, easy to read, and tells your story and achievement well. You want the judges to have an easy time understanding your entry, right?
Someone nominating you might support what you do but not have the skills or confidence to write clear, plain language content. Offer to proofread and give feedback on the written entry before it goes in, if you’re not writing it yourself.
Supporting evidence is really important
Make sure you include everything the category asks you to include, and put your best foot forward with your best examples.
What to expect if you enter the Awards
Cost
The standard New Zealand entry fee is NZ$143.75 (GST included) per entry. You’ll pay online as part of the entry process.
Deadline
The last day to enter is 31 July 2023.
Submitting your entry
Through the Awards website, you’ll be using an online platform called Submittable to enter. Don’t worry – it's simple and easy!
How to enter the 2023 Plain Language Awards
Depending on the category you enter, there'll be questions to answer about your entry, like:
- who did the work
- what did it involve
- who was your audience
- why was the work important
- what kind of impact did it have
- what kind of testing did you do
- did you have any external help?
The submittable platform presents these questions as part of the online form – you type your answers into text boxes within the form.
You’ll have the opportunity to attach supporting documents or include links to supporting content.
You’ll be able to use a new collaboration feature to invite colleagues to work on the submission with you.
You’ll get a confirmation email when you’ve successfully entered.
Judging
Each category usually has 3 judges. They review and score your entry individually, but they have opportunities to talk and agree on a winner.
The lead judge in each category finalises the scores and blends the individual comments into combined feedback. You get a copy of that final feedback.
The judges confirm the shortlist, finalists and winner of each category to the Awards team.
You’ll see those lists announced over time on the Awards website, as we get closer to the Awards ceremony.
Awards ceremony
The Awards ceremony is happening in October, around International Plain Language Week. It was an online event in the past couple of years, but this year there's an in-person option being held at Parliament too!
Subscribe to the Awards newsletter to be sure you get fresh details hot off the press when there’s more to share.
Sign up for the Plain Language Awards newsletter
In past ceremonies, here’s what we’ve seen and heard:
- chats about hot topics like new words that have made it into the dictionary, or the word of the year
- guest speakers like Lynda Harris (founder of Write Limited and the Plain Language Awards) and Rachel Boyack (the Member of Parliament who sponsored the Plain Language Act 2022)
- viewer participation (like sending in funny, real, complex sentences and their suggested rewrites)
- finalists for each category summarised
- winners announced and short acceptance speeches from each winner
- a lot of recognition for fantastic people and celebration for a great cause!
And we couldn’t not mention the stunning trophies the winners get (take a sneak peek at the photo of them on the ‘About’ page we’ve linked below). Finalists also get a little something to recognise their achievements too.
About the Plain Language Awards (see trophy photo)
Things you can do to support the event and the cause
- Enter!
- Tell others about the Awards and encourage them to enter.
- Follow the Plain Language Awards on LinkedIn and other social media – like and share their posts.
- Nominate communications for the people's choice best or brainstrain awards (free to do).
- Join the awards ceremony in October – let’s show our support for the plain language community with strength in numbers!
- Consider if you or your organisation might be keen to sponsor the awards (either through promotion or money). Check out their online information about becoming a sponsor if this might be an option for you.