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Plain English campaign news articles
Award winners receive industry recognition
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- Created on Monday, 07 February 2011 16:05
In 2009, Plain English Campaign launched a new awards category that would look at the clarity of the spoken word.
We feel that the campaign's fight for clear communications should relate to all channels for sending and receiving information. Books, newspapers and other printed documents will probably never disappear, but people now have to cope with even more information than ever. And sometimes information created for one communication channel does not work as well in another without being completely rewritten or redesigned.
This makes plain English a clear choice for whatever way you choose to communicate. And to prove it works, we are proud to announce that the winners of our 2009 Plain English Communicator award, Ashbourne Radio, have now been awarded (with High Peak Radio) further recognition for their clear presentation style.
Foreign Office plainly rumbled
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- Created on Monday, 07 February 2011 14:10
At last year's Plain English Campaign awards, a Golden Bull was awarded to the Foreign Commonwealth Office for a jargon-filled job description. The FCO graciously acknowledged that plain English was a better way to communicate and even produced their plain English translation of the original text, which can be seen on our Golden Bull 2010 winners page.
Below is their reply:
"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office attaches importance to clear communication, particularly with the British public.
This document, although for internal use with a specialist audience, did not meet these standards. Like the many other organisations who have received "Golden Bull" awards in the past, we accept it in the spirit in which it was intended - an encouragement to us to do better.
We would be grateful if you would publish this response and the translation below.
Plain power on television
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- Created on Monday, 07 February 2011 13:50
The current television advertisement from energy suppliers, npower, shows a clear commitment to their Plain English Campaign corporate membership.
Promoting their latest Crystal Mark for clearer bills, the new campaign responds to the consumers' call for clearer bills.
You can see npower's press release below:
Communication at odds with costs
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- Created on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:57
This morning our press officer, Marie Clair, was asked by BBC Essex radio to comment on the article about a charity, Disability Essex, that has terminated its contract with a government department because of the resources involved in submitting 4,500 pages of information as part of the monitoring process required by the government contractor.
http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/1048205/enemy-red-tape/
Our Government have set up the Big Society Deregulation Taskforce (BSDT) in a positive effort to investigate unnecessary bureaucracy. Plain English Campaign are willing to help by offering our services based on our past experience during the Rayner Review of 1983, that worked successfully to reduce unnecessary paperwork in government.
Jargon – you can stick it on National Plain English Day
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- Created on Friday, 10 December 2010 12:25
National Plain English Day falls on Friday 10 December 2010 and will coincide with the Plain English Campaign's annual Golden Bull awards.
National Plain English Day started with the launch of the campaign when the supporters travelled to Parliament and set to shredding jargon-filled documents on Parliament Green. The police then intervened and read out the legalese-filled Metropolitan Police Act, prompting Chrissie Maher, founder of Plain English Campaign to ask,
“Does all that mean we have to go?”
Read more: Jargon – you can stick it on National Plain English Day
