It’s legal, but not full of legalese

The Best Plain English Legal Document award recognises the best example of a legal document written in plain English. Entries are judged against internationally accepted principles of plain English.

Each entry in this category costs $143.75 including GST or $74.75 including GST for registered charities. This fee goes completely towards running the Awards.

What you need to know

Entries for this award will be documents used in legal contexts or for legal purposes, such as contracts, agreements, terms and conditions, notices, deeds, judgments, legal opinions, and so on. The document may cover a legally enforceable Act, process, obligation, or right.

On the entry form you’ll need to give information about the purpose of the document, your target reader, and whether your document was user-tested.

You can enter print (in pdf form) or online versions of your legal document.

If your document improves on an earlier version, consider also entering it in the Best Plain English Turnaround award.

Prizes for this award

The winner of the Best Plain English Legal Document award will receive:

• a stunning steel and bronze trophy produced for the Awards by Wellington sculptor Campbell Maud
• the latest StyleWriter plain English editing software — single-user licence (from Editor Software)
• a place on any of Write Limited’s 1-day public workshops.

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.