{"id":1898,"date":"2017-11-28T13:36:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T01:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plainenglishawards.org.nz\/?page_id=1898"},"modified":"2018-10-31T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T22:59:32","slug":"peoples-choice-worst-brainstrain-communication-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.plainenglishawards.org.nz\/winners\/2017-awards\/peoples-choice-worst-brainstrain-communication-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"People’s Choice \u2014 Worst ‘Brainstrain’ Communication 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Andrew Stott, Inland Revenue, with Lynda Harris from Write Limited<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n


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Document name<\/h4>\n

Inland Revenue direct debit conditions<\/em><\/p>\n


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Judges’ comment<\/h4>\n

This is supposedly an explanation of the conditions under which Inland Revenue\u00a0has authority to accept direct debits \u2014 we think!<\/p>\n

This is a prime example of a document in need of a good dose of plain English. The headings bear no relation to what an ordinary customer might understand.<\/p>\n

Paragraphs are numbered as a legal document would be. Not at all customer-friendly.<\/p>\n


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Acceptance speech<\/h4>\n

Thanks to Andrew Stott from Inland Reveue for accepting this award in good humour!<\/p>\n

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