Awards for Statistical Excellence in Journalism


We are now accepting entries for the 2025 awards

We established our awards for statistical excellence in journalism in 2007 to encourage excellence in journalists’ use of statistics and data. The awards have previously been scooped by reporters from the BBC, The Economist, Mail on Sunday and the Times and celebrate the great strides that have been made in journalists' use of numbers to tell a story.

The awards are kindly sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Read about the 2024 winners.

Criteria 
The awards are open to all journalists (and non-journalists for the best statistical commentary category), including those based outside the UK and are for work completed in the previous calendar year. 

Categories
The categories are as follows:

  • Data visualisation – stories which include data visualisation to aid explanation of the statistics being presented 
  • Explaining the facts – stories which take a current issue or statistic already published and enable greater public understanding through effective explanation 
  • Investigative journalism – stories which include previously unpublished statistics either through unpublished data that have been sourced and analysed by the journalist or new analyses of existing data 
  • Best statistical commentary by a non-journalist – this is awarded for an outstanding example of statistical analysis or explanation on a topical issue, aimed at a non-specialist audience.
Please read this criteria document before submitting your entry 

Download the entry form

Submit your entry by midnight on Wednesday 12 March 2025 to journalismaward@rss.org.uk
An awards ceremony will take place in London on 15 July 2025



Previous award winners