Annual report with life and character
I was impressed by the Rotorua Lakes Council's Annual Report 2025.
Reports this big are written by many people. Despite this, there's a sense of collective identity in the report.
How this report connects
Personality comes through even in the practical verb choices – I love that they describe the report's purpose as "to measure Council's progress".
The opening mihi and bilingual headings mirror the 43% Māori population in Rotorua.
(Want to learn about the evidence base for using headings in both te reo Māori and English? See this Archives NZ research: Use of te reo Māori online)
And I got a rush of joy seeing the subsections start with summaries called "He mātainga poto, At a glance".
📩 Sign up for regular writing tips – get new tips direct to your inbox every 2 weeks
↩️ Back to more examples of great writing
✨ Check out my Regulatory Communication workshop — it's for people who tell other people about complying with regulations and laws.
✨Look into the School of unProfessional Writing to learn about plain language at your own pace