Hamilton City Council
Finalist: People's Choice — Worst 'Brainstrain' Communication 2013
Hatch, Match and Dispatch factsheet
Judges' comment
The document fails to convey its message in a pragmatic, easily digestible way.
The purpose is not revealed in the title, heading, opening statement or graphics. You have to read extensively before finding the purpose — making rites of passage environmentally friendly occasions.
It’s hard to know why the council wrote such a fact sheet. It is almost funny, it is so bad.
Media statement
Hamilton City Council is taking its 2013 Plain English Award Brainstrain Award nomination ‘on the chin’.
While we are a little embarrassed — and somewhat disappointed — we have been nominated for this award, we’re treating it as a reminder we need to make sure we are clear and concise with information we provide to our community.
Communicating with residents and stakeholders is one of the most important things our organisation does. It’s vital to our business that residents and stakeholders understand what we’re telling them.
The Know It, Live It document nominated was several years old, and has subsequently been withdrawn from circulation as part of a broader review of our sustainability initiatives and how we communicate them to our community.
Hamilton City Council is striving to deliver information in plain English, and we recently rolled out a Writing Style and Plain English Guide across the organisation.
We have notched up a few communication successes in the last couple of years.
We were one of the first New Zealand councils to livestream meetings (making them more accessible to the public), and in 2012, our website www.hamilton.co.nz won Best Redevelopment Council Website at the 2012 Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Web Awards. Our 2012–2022 10-Year Plan received praise from the WriteMark Plain English Awards in 2012, and in the same year, it was also commended for its “use of plain language” by the Auditor General, in his report to Parliament on councils’ 10-Year Plans.
We look forward to being a strong contender for the WriteMark Plain English Awards 2014 Best Plain English Turnaround Award.
Elizabeth Hughes
Communication Manager