There’s still time to nominate
Annetta Cheek, Chair of the Board of the Center for Plain Language, recently spoke on Federal News Radio on the importance of plain language and our ClearMark | WonderMark Awards event. You can listen to the podcast online.
When asked about the preponderance of legalese in government and business documents, Cheek stated
“I think our tradition of writing that’s grown up in this country, particularly in bureaucracy and especially in the government over the last, let’s say, hundred years is what’s the cause. You can make just about anything plain and, in fact, the plainer it is, the clearer it is, probably, the better it is legally.”
Cheek spoke about why the government writes the way it does and the difficulty that convoluted language causes us. She encouraged citizens to nominate government, corporate, or non-profit examples of clear communication.
Of course, we’re also looking for examples of gobbledygook: our WonderMark Award as in “we WONDER what they were thinking when they wrote this.”
Nominate and fight for your right to understand!
Obviously, as Cheek stated, “We don’t anticipate any problems finding examples for the Wondermark award,” but let’s also reward companies and agencies who are doing a good job of providing us with CLEAR information.
Think about the last time you read something that was clear, easy to use, friendly, helpful, and didn’t make you scratch your head. Then submit your nomination (one page; easy to do).
ClearMark categories:
Best Plain Language Document
- Public Sector
- Private Sector
- Non-government (NGO) Sector
Best Plain Language Website
- Public Sector
- Private Sector
- Non-government (NGO) Sector
Best Plain Language Transformation
- Public Sector
- Private Sector
- Non-government (NGO) Sector
People’s Choice
- Best Plain Language Document
WonderMark category:
- Award for the worst gobbledygook
There is no fee to nominate, so submit it by March 1, 2010 The awards ceremony will be held on on April 29, 2010 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
