Blog

We are pleased to announce our newest Board member, Kathryn Catania. Kathryn is a champion of providing information that is easy to find, understand, and use. She has more than 15 years’ experience promoting plain language in government writing.
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Recently, the Center’s Vice Chair, David Lipscomb, talked with two Center volunteers who also happen to be successful entrepreneurs-- Casey Mank and Grace Foster. They are the two founders of Bold Type, a writing consulting firm that is prospering in its second year. Armed with masters degrees, experience leading workshops and coaching for Kelloggs, Viacom and the US Army, both Grace and Casey also carve out time to teach at Georgetown University.
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July 2019--The odds are most folks automatically affiliate the initials “WTF” with a less-than-polite phrase. Rest assured that’s NOT what it stands for as one of the most-appreciated awards given by the Center for Plain Language.
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Now that the frenetics of launching the annual ClearMark Awards are over, the Center for Plain Language had a chance to chat with two leaders from a great social media advisor/aide: Circuit Media, based in Denver, CO.
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The Center for Plain Language announces finalists for its highly popular annual ClearMark awards which recognize the best in plain language communications created by North American organizations. Held every year since 2010, “The theme for this year’s ClearMarks is ‘Plain Language is Everywhere,” says Jeff Greer, Chair of the Center. This year the event happens online, Tuesday, May 7th, at 12 p.m. EDT.
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An interview with Deborah Bosley Deborah Bosley is owner and principal of The Plain Language Group and professor emeritus of technical communication at UNC Charlotte. For two decades she has helped organizations create written information that exceeds compliance standards and is easy for people to understand and use. A former board member of the Center for Plain Language, Deborah agreed to sit down for an interview about her career and a recent court case.
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The Montréal Clarity Conference was remarkable for its setting, for the varied presentations, and for the particularly strong legal presence. Quite special was the Plenary Session for the Plain Language Federation which was co-founded by the Center for Plain Language, Plain Language Association International, and Clarity-International.
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No one knows this truth better than Sonia Sánchez Moreno, Director of Community Translations for Sylaba Translations and two-time judge for the annual Spanish ClearMark awards. Sonia’s advocacy for plain language in translations is inspiring and her hard work as a judge helps the Center ensure that we have a robust and successful Spanish category. We sat down with Sonia – virtually, since she lives in Melbourne, Australia – to talk about plain language and the special considerations of translations.
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