The Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award is an international award recognizing an outstanding contribution to advancing plain language.
Purpose
- to recognize a significant contribution to advancing plain language at the local, regional, national, or international levels
- to honor the outstanding contribution of Christine Mowat, a past president of PLAIN and winner of the PLAIN International Award
2023 winner: Ginny Redish
Ginny has been a splendid encourager of people new to plain language and a tireless contributor to the Plain Language Action and Information Network in the United States over the past 10 years. She is respected not only for the research and work that she has done, but also for the opportunities that she has opened for plain language practitioners. Her way of reconsidering things is a model for all of us to follow. She truly listens, inspires people to continue the work that she started, and encourages newcomers.
Criteria
The Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award is presented to a person or organization who has significantly advanced plain language through their work and represented the profession of plain language with the highest integrity and skill.
A person’s plain language work can be in any language and take a variety of forms:
- Significant research in the field of plain language
- Extensive experience in developing and presenting plain language training
- Extensive experience in writing or editing documents using plain language
- A body of publications about plain language
- Successful leadership in public plain language projects
- Significant volunteer contribution to a plain language organization
Eligibility
To be considered, a person must be nominated by a PLAIN member. Their nomination must:
- be in writing (maximum of 5 pages total for nominating and supporting documents)
- document the nominee’s achievements, referring to the criteria shown above
- be supported by another member of PLAIN and at least one other person active in the plain language profession who doesn’t have to be a member of PLAIN.
To be eligible for the award, a recipient should (but doesn’t have to) be a PLAIN member. Serving PLAIN Board members are not eligible for the award.
Call for nominations
We notify members by email and through social media when nominations are open. You can nominate yourself (or your organization) or someone else (or their organization).
Judging
The PLAIN Board establishes a selection committee chaired by a Board member to select the award winners.
Announcement of the winners
A member of the PLAIN Board advises successful nominees a few months before the conference. The awards are presented to the winners at the PLAIN conference award ceremony.
