Ginny Redish

United States

Pioneer in plain language and user experience with 40 years of work with US federal government agencies, ballots, and voter materials. Director of the Document Design Center at the American Institutes for Research and author of Letting Go of the Words — a foundational plain language reference.

About the winner

Ginny Redish is one of the most respected figures in plain language and user experience in the United States. For over 40 years she worked with federal government agencies to improve their communications, combining her expertise in plain language with a deep understanding of how people read and use documents.

She directed the Document Design Center at the American Institutes for Research for a decade, where she explored writers’ and readers’ problems with workplace and government writing. She is the author of Letting Go of the Words, now in its second edition, which remains one of the most practical and widely used guides to writing for the web and beyond. She also applied her expertise to ballot design, working to ensure that voting materials are clear and accessible to all citizens.

Why they won

Ginny received the Christine Mowat Award at the 2023 Buenos Aires conference in recognition of a lifetime of contribution to plain language and user experience that has helped millions of people interact more successfully with government and public information.

Her generosity in sharing knowledge — through writing, training, and her sustained involvement with the plain language community — made her an inspiring and beloved figure in the field.

Award details
Award Christine Mowat
Year 2023
Presented at PLAIN 2023 Buenos Aires
Country Argentina
About this award

The Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award recognises outstanding contributions to advancing plain language — in any language, at any scale.

Presented every two years at the PLAIN international conference.

Award ceremony

About this award

The Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award

The Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award is PLAIN’s most prestigious recognition. It honours an outstanding contribution to advancing plain language at the local, regional, national, or international level — in any language, in any form.

The award is named after Christine Mowat, a past president of PLAIN and winner of the former PLAIN International Award. It has been presented since 2007 at each PLAIN international conference.

A winner’s work can take many forms:
  • Significant research in the field of plain language
  • Extensive experience in developing and presenting plain language training
  • Extensive experience in writing or editing documents using plain language
  • A body of publications about plain language
  • Successful leadership in public plain language projects
  • Significant volunteer contribution to a plain language organisation

Previous winners

  • 2025

    Heloisa Fischer

    Brazil

    Brussels, Belgium

  • 2023

    Ginny Redish

    United States

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • 2021

    Enliven Victoria

    Australia

    Online

  • 2019

    Neil James

    Australia

    Oslo, Norway

  • 2017

    Annetta Cheek

    United States

    Graz, Austria

  • 2015

    Lynda Harris

    New Zealand

    Dublin, Ireland

  • 2013

    Martin Cutts

    United Kingdom

    Vancouver, Canada

  • 2011

    Barbro Ehrenberg-Sundin

    Sweden

    Stockholm, Sweden

  • 2009

    Christine Mowat

    Canada

    Sydney, Australia

  • 2009

    Peter Butt

    Australia

    Sydney, Australia

  • 2009

    Robert Eagleson

    Australia

    Sydney, Australia

  • 2007

    Mark Adler

    United Kingdom

    Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • 2007

    Joe Kimble

    United States

    Amsterdam, Netherlands