DANZ Writers Style Guide

The aim is to produce publications with a clean and consistent style and layout. Submitted articles should have minimal formatting – No indents, tabs, underlining etc.

Language

Spelling in New Zealand English (not US English) e.g. organisation not organization.
Māori language – use macrons.
Avoid abbreviations, especially NZ.

Quote marks

“double quotation marks” when quoting speech. ‘single quotation marks’ for quotes within quotes.
‘single quotation marks’ to emphasise expressions/idioms or words e.g. Creative New Zealand will be looking at ‘in kind’ support as well.

Titles

Titles of publications, art & dance works and events in italics
Job/position titles should have initial capitals when following a name. e.g. Linda Lim, Communications Manager but not when used descriptively e.g. Linda Lim became Communications Manager of DANZ.

Numbers

Spell out one to nine. Write 10 and above in figures.

Dates

16 April 2004 (only use numbers, don’t use ‘5th’ and ‘3rd’), Festival of Contemporary Arts, 14–16 July 2009 at the Arts Centre

Websites and email

Don’t underline web or email addresses.
No full stop after web address even at the end of a sentence.
Omit ‘http://’, e.g. www.danz.org.nz

Interviews

For interviews in the question and answer format, questions will be in bold.

Names

Use first name/Christian name and surname on first mention. Thereafter use just first name.
Spell acronyms on first mention, with abbreviations in brackets e.g New Zealand Association of Dance Teachers (NZADT). Thereafter use either full name or acronym.

Image credits

In capitals, next to the photo, in the format:

JON TRIMMER IN THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND BALLET’S DON QUIXOTE, 2008
PHOTO: MAARTEN HOLL

GATHERING CLOUDS BY NEIL IEREMIA
PHOTO: DUNCAN COLE

Download the guide: DANZ Writers Style Guide