Government and public sector organisations have dominated this year's WriteMark New Zealand Plain English Awards, and judges say the private sector needs to catch up.
Public sector organisations won nine of the 12 awards .
Winners were announced tonight at the Museum Building, Massey University in Wellington.
The top prize of $10,000 went to the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, which provides binding resolution services where people have disputes with their banks.
Deputy Banking Ombudsman Susan Taylor said the office entered the Awards to get recognition for the hard work staff put into using plain English.
"The benefits from translating our documents and brochures into plain English have been immeasurable.
"It's extremely important the public understands the services we offer, so we have to make information clear and accessible."
Other government or public sector winners included the NZ Transport Agency, ACC, the Cancer Society, the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance and the Ministries of Justice and Fisheries.
Visiting judge Neil James, of the Plain English Foundation in Sydney, said documents entered by government agencies were genuinely world class and showed a real commitment to plain English.
"The public sector in New Zealand is clearly leading the way and the private sector could learn a great deal from its public sector colleagues," he said.
Plain English Awards founder Lynda Harris said the public sector's emphasis on plain English will inevitably raise New Zealanders' expectations for documents, forms and websites that are easy to understand.
Brainstrain Awards, which are reserved for documents and websites that are confusing and could cause harm when misunderstood, went to Vodafone NZ for an online page of terms and conditions and to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) for its Sale of Real Estate by Auction form.
REINZ chief executive Christine Le Cren said the Brainstrain didn't come as a great surprise.
"We admit the form was a bit of a howler, so we're prepared to take the award on the chin.
"In fact we've put an incredible amount of effort into making our forms less complex so they no longer strain the brains of property buyers and sellers."
