Center for Plain Language Honors the Best in Clear Communication

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Plain Language has awarded its 2015 Grand ClearMark Awards for the best communications in plain language. Suburban Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine won the Grand ClearMark for My Get Well Kit, a folder of materials designed to help patients understand and navigate their hospital experience. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission won the Spanish Grand ClearMark for its consumer protection booklet Cobradores de deuda, intended to help the Latino community stop falling for scams and fraud. The awards were presented at the Center for Plain Language's sixth annual ClearMark Awards banquet held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2015.

In addition to the grand prize awards, the Center for Plain Language also presented ClearMark Awards for the best in Original Documents, Revised Documents, Websites, Multimedia, Legal Documents, and Spanish Documents. The winners are:

Original Documents – Private:  Health Care Service Corporation, Health Insurance Buyer's Guide
Original Documents – Public:  Federal Trade Commission, Bilingual Pass It On and Pasalo Campaign
Original Documents – Non-profit:  AARP Livable Communities WALC Institute, AARP Livability Fact Sheets
Revised Documents – Private:  Anthem Medicare Marketing, Medicare Advantage House Call Program Campaign Brochure
Revised Documents – Public:  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Advisory: Ebola
Revised Documents – Non-profit:  Suburban Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine, My Get Well Kit*
Website – Private:  Aetna Inc., Aetna's Consumer Tumblr Blog
Website – Public:  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Owning a Home
Website – Non-profit:  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, BCBS of Michigan Medicare Website
Multimedia – Private:  Anthem Medicare Marketing, The Basics of Medicare: Self-guided e-Tutorial
Multimedia – Public & Non-profit:  Highmark Inc., Consent Decree in Plain Language
Legal Documents:  Victoria Law Foundation, Everyday-Law.org.au
Spanish Documents:  Federal Trade Commission, Cobradores de deuda*

"The winners of this year's ClearMark Awards demonstrate once again that plain language is not an afterthought, but is essential to the success of quality communications," said Susan Kleimann, Center for Plain Language chair. "This year, for the first time, we featured a new award category that recognizes the best of Spanish-language documents. The Center is pleased to honor the best plain language writing of the year in both English and Spanish."

The Center also recognizes complex, confusing, or just plain bad writing with the WonderMark Awards — as in "I wonder what they were thinking when they wrote this?" This year's Grand WonderMark Award goes to a submission entitled Too Many Words from Southwest Airlines.

"This was a text alert sent by Southwest Airlines to a traveler to let her know of a flight cancellation due to the weather," said Chip Crane, Center for Plain Language board member and WonderMark lead. "Though not impossible to decipher, the volume of information and clutter on a phone screen makes this attempt at being helpful…UNhelpful."

To see a complete list of all ClearMark finalists and winners — including the winning documents and judges' remarks — visit the Center for Plain Language's website. All WonderMark finalists can also be found on the Center's website.

The Center for Plain Language, a non-profit organization, helps government agencies and businesses write clear and understandable documents. The Center supports those who use plain language, trains those who should use plain language, and urges people to demand plain language in all the documents they receive, read, and use. For more information and to become a member, visit: centerforplainlanguage.org.

* 2015 Grand ClearMark Award Winner

SOURCE The Center for Plain Language

Related Links

http://centerforplainlanguage.org