Award for Statistical Excellence in Early Career Writing

Our annual writing competition, jointly organised by Significance magazine and the  RSS Young Statisticians Section, celebrates career-young statisticians, data scientists and researchers who can demonstrate the skills necessary for effective communication and who recognise the importance of explaining statistics to non-experts.

Read about the winner and finalists for the 2024 award 

About the award
The award welcomes submissions from:

• students currently studying for a first degree, master’s or PhD in statistics, data science or related subjects;
• graduates whose last qualification in statistics, data science or related subjects (whether first degree, master’s or PhD) was not more than five years ago.

The rules of entry are simple: competition entrants submit their best statistical writing in the form of a magazine article (1,500 to 2,500 words) on any subject they like. Articles will be reviewed by a judging panel, and the winning entry (and up to two runners-up) is published in Significance later that year.

What should you write about?
Successful submissions from previous years have been based on original analyses produced specifically for the competition. Past participants have also written about work they have done as part of their studies or during their careers, while some have written about the work of others in the form of a critique or wider overview of a subject area.

Whatever you choose to write about, articles must be engaging and easy to read. Significance is published for a broad audience, so accessibility is key. This means technical terms and mathematics must be kept to a minimum and explained clearly where used.

We recommend you read articles from past winners and finalists to get a sense of the style of writing and storytelling that judges are looking for. A list of published articles from previous years' competitions can be found here.