We also want to thank our star volunteer that has helped the Board with the awards process: Jana Goldman.
We look forward to celebrating them all at our PLAIN2023 Conference this September in Buenos Aires!
Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award
We present this award to recognize an outstanding contribution to advancing plain language. The award is in honor of Christine Mowat, a past president of PLAIN and winner of the former PLAIN International Award, which was subsequently renamed the Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award.
The recognition can go towards a variety of contributions including:
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, or
- Significant volunteer contribution to a plain language organization
This year’s winner 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 US over the past 10 years. She is respected not only for the research and work that she’s done, but also the opportunities that she’s 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.
It is with great pleasure that we present the 2023 Christine Mowat Award to Ginny Redish!
Cheryl Stephens Plain Language Innovation Award
The Cheryl Stephens Award honors PLAIN co-founder Cheryl Stephens. This award recognizes the intellectual contribution of the awardee, as well the gratitude from our plain language community. This award is generously sponsored by the WorkRake Holdings, LLC, maker of WordRake professional editing software. Dedicated to simplicity and brevity in writing, WordRake is excited to partner with PLAIN to celebrate innovators in plain language!
The Cheryl Stephens Innovation Award recognizes a person or organization whose plain language activities have brought significant benefit to the community through one or more of the following areas:
- Technology–adapting emerging technology to develop new services and systems
- Advocacy–extending the scope and influence of plain language internationally
- Research–strengthening the knowledge base for plain language, or
- Professional development–helping to develop the skills of plain language practitioners and the institutions supporting them
The winner this year has set an extremely high standard for implementing plain language projects, from raising awareness about the importance of clear public information and transforming critical documents to that end to training and establishing partnerships in support of plain language across their country. They have contributed to a federal agency’s 35% increase in participation and 70% increase in payments without administrative appeals and have supported the launch for an Award for Black Women Writers in partnership with the Ministry of Culture.
It is with great pleasure that we present the 2023 Cheryl Stephens Award to IrisLab Ceará!
Above and Beyond Special Plain Language Award
This year, a nomination deserved special consideration from the PLAIN Board of Directors who, in partnership with Clarity International and the Center for Plain Language, unanimously decided to extend an exceptional recognition as a token of gratitude for the huge amount of work put into promoting plain language.
The recipient of this special award has devoted time and effort through professional endeavors and volunteerism towards the growth of plain language field and provided gracious leadership to key plain language projects, including Working Group 11 within Technical Committee 37 at ISO (International Organization for Standardization) which drafted the first international standard on plain language, ISO 24495-1:2023 – Plain language — Part 1, published on June 20, 2023.
It is with great pleasure that we presented the 2023 Above and Beyond Special Plain Language Award to Christopher Balmford!
