Osborne Memorial award 2013

We set up this award to honour the memory of Geoffrey Osborne, a benefactor and great supporter of the Campaign. The award goes to an individual or organisation making a major contribution to the plain English cause.

Elmore Leonard

Leonard, a legendary writer of accessible but complex crime novels and westerns, sadly passed away in 2013. He left a legacy of award-winning books, numerous film adaptations, high-profile admirers (Quentin Tarantino and Philip Roth included) and a no-nonsense approach to writing.

His ’10 Rules of Writing’ typify the latter point: a series of guidelines that have been regularly quoted as part of articles critical of over-complex or pretentious prose. They offer funny but also useful advice for budding writers. “If it sounds like writing,” wrote Leonard, “I rewrite it.”