Excellence in Journalism Awards 2017: criteria

All categories will be judged against the following criteria:

  1. Raised awareness and understanding of what statistics are, what they can be used for, and what statistical methods can achieve
  2. Displayed integrity in the explanation and use of statistics, avoiding distortion and highlighting the extent of uncertainties.

Additionally, the following criteria will also be used to judge each of the four categories:

Regional journalism

  1. Presented and explained statistics relating to a local or regional matter in order to enable a greater public understanding of a particular topic,or
  2. Sourced new data, or dissected existing data, to make it more relevant to a local or regional audience,or
  3. Used statistics to challenge an issue of importance locally or regionally, or to break a local or regional news story, or
  4. Being a champion for the discipline of statistics and promoting its role in society

Investigative journalism

  1. Sourced, analysed and presented previously unpublished statistics in order to investigate a particular issue, and
  2. Enabled greater public understanding of a particular topic through an accessible analysis and explanation of those statistics, and
  3. Used statistics to challenge or change the decisions and policies of public or private bodies

Explaining the facts

  1. Effectively analysed a current news story or other noteworthy issue using statistics, and
  2. Enabled greater public understanding of the issue by assuredly explaining those statistics and why they matter in an accessible and interesting way, and
  3. Used statistics to challenge or change the decisions and policies of public or private bodies

Data visualisation

  1. Presented new or existing statistics in an original and visually appealing way using infographics, video or other data visualisation techniques, and
  2. Enabled greater public understanding of a particular topic through an accessible analysis and explanation of statistics using data visualisation, and potentially
  3. Included an element of interactivity or other user tool to enable further exploration of the statistics or the issue by users