Pictured L-R Declan Black, Managing Partner, Mason Hayes & Curran, Conor Pope, The Irish Times and Inez Bailey, CEO, NALA

Mason Hayes & Curran are delighted to partner with The National Adult Literacy Agency to launch the second Irish Plain English Awards. The aims of the awards are to reward organisations that communicate clearly and to promote the use of plain English in all public information.

Have you ever received an email or a letter from an organisation that left you confused? Maybe you’ve tried to cancel your mobile phone, TV or broadband contract but simply couldn’t understand the terms and conditions? Or perhaps you were out for a hike and read a sign about occupiers’ liability that left you asking, or maybe even shouting: ‘Why doesn’t anybody just say what they mean?’

The good news is that it’s not your fault. The blame lies squarely with jargon and gobbledygook. These are the main enemies of clear communication and the Plain English Awards are now taking aim at both of them.

Building on the success of the first awards in 2016, this year’s awards programme has five new categories, including one for the public called ‘Best letter or email rewritten in plain English’. This category will be open to members of the public to rewrite in plain English a confusing letter or email they received from an organisation. Entries for this category will be in with a chance to win €500.

Anyone can enter the competition online at www.nala.ie/plain-english-awards. So, if you’ve got a document you’re proud of, or an awful piece of text that you’ve transformed, you’ve got an entry.

The closing date is 5pm on Friday 19th October 2018.