Ninth Plain Language Award Winner
Veterans Benefits Administration
Veterans Benefits Administration Employees Get Vice President Gore's Plain Language Award
April 26, 1999
Washington, DC--This month Vice President Gore used his plain language
award to recognize the work of more than 800 front line employees in
the Veteran's Benefits Administration of the Department of Veterans
Affairs. Today, three VBA employees accepted the No Gobbledygook Award
in the Roosevelt Room on behalf of VBA's national "reader-focused
writing" team. The three employees are Melodee Mercer, Insurance
Service, Philadelphia; Chuck Graffam, Vocational Rehab, Washington, DC;
and Wayne Taylor, Compensation and Pensions, Washington, DC.
VBA's Accomplishments
VBA is the leader in the government for plain language letter writing. When the agency initiated the plain language program several years ago, it developed training on how to write clearly for customers, and delivered the training to 800 employees nationwide. Employees translated hundreds of VBA's standard letters into plain language, getting customer feedback to ensure that the readers understood the message VBA intended them to get.
A new round of training began this month. VBA intends to train 8000 of their 11,000 employees in the principles of plain language writing.