Riksbank awarded Plain Swedish Crystal

Date 15/05/2009

The Riksbank has been awarded the Language Council’s Plain Swedish Crystal for its work on making the Monetary Policy Report and Financial Stability Report comprehensible to members of the general public who are interested in reading them. The Riksbank is also awarded the prize because its work on using plain language is driven in a long-term and sustainable manner and has been integrated into the Bank’s daily work.

 

To formulate our message in plain language and in a way that all target groups can understand. This was the Riksbank’s objective when the Plain Swedish project was started up in 2007. After two years’ work on editing texts, providing language coaching for those who write a lot of texts and organising seminars on plain language, we are now reaping the rewards. The language in our speeches, press releases and reports has become more readily understandable and the structure has become clearer. 

 

“The Riksbank works with important issues that affect the entire Swedish population. It is therefore necessary that everyone can understand what we say. Our project has focussed on improving and simplifying the language and structure of the texts. We have also had the goal that plain language editing shall become a natural part of the writing process for everyone here,” says Pernilla Meyersson, Director of Communications and one of the initiators of the plain language project.

 

The plain language work has contributed to ensuring that language issues are given greater priority in the Riksbank’s activities. 

 

“We are making good progress, but we need to speak and write even more plainly at the Riksbank.  This is why we are ensuring that the plain language work becomes a part of our day-to-day work,” says Pernilla Meyersson.

 

The Plain Swedish Crystal has been awarded once a year since 1998. This year the competition category was “Plain language in reports – the summary as an important tool”.