News
October 2023
Goodbye to Katie
Well, it’s official! We've said goodbye to Katie as she steps down from the board to take a well-deserved break. The board says a massive thank you to Katie for everything she’s done for TechCommNZ. We’ve appreciated her leadership and the time and effort she’s put into the board and our members over many years.
Thank you, Katie. We wish you well and we’re looking forward to seeing what you get up to next.
Welcome to our new board members
Welcome to Sarah Bichan, Cassandra Hogan, Ryan Wilson and Jenny Drayton. Sarah has taken on our social media role and has already made a great start ramping up the activity on our LinkedIn page over the last couple of months. Cassandra joins us as our new Business Manager and Treasurer, and brings a wealth of business knowledge. Ryan is our new President, and Jenny joins us as a board member. We’re happy to have them all on board!
You can check out their bios on our board members webpage.
That’s a wrap on this year’s Plain Language Awards
Steph and Katie braved the (worse than usual, so we're told) Wellington winds on Thursday 26 October to celebrate New Zealand and Australia’s clearest communicators. It's the first time in years the Plain Language Awards have been an in-person event, this time at the Parliament buildings.
What a great night!
It kicked off with hosts Thomas McGrath (Write Limited) and James Elliot (Newsroom) talking about words of the year (goblin mode and JOMO – look ‘em up!). We were warned that anyone who used 'learning' as a noun would be removed from the building.
We heard from Rachel Boyack, sponsor of the Plain Language Act 2022. She spoke with passion about how plain language writers are essential public servants.
We also heard from Lynda Harris (awards founder), Alistair Hill (Deputy Commissioner, Governance and Public Affairs) and Simon Hertnon (awards judge). There were a number of touching tributes throughout the night to the WriteMark Plain Language Awards Trust patron, Chloe Wright, who sadly passed away recently.
We clapped the night away as we learnt the winners of each award category and got to see their excitement at being recognised for doing what they love to do.
We’re especially proud of the TechCommNZ members who were finalists in the Best Plain Language Technical Communicator category – Sarah Bichan and Mercedes Glover. You’ve both represented yourself, your organisation and TechCommNZ so well – thank you and congratulations on an excellent and well-deserved achievement!
Helen Bradford from Capire was the technical communicator winner on the night – congratulations!
We wound up the evening’s excitement with some drinks, nibbles and networking. It was lovely to see everyone again (shoutout to some familiar faces - our TechCommNZ crew, Write Limited, the awards judges and a couple of Plain Language Officers too).
Want to see the full list of winners and finalists? Check them out on the awards website.
Plain Language Awards winners 2023
Cast your vote for our new journal’s name
Get your votes in for the name of our new journal (see Katie’s President’s report for more detail).