Enter the Significance, RSS Writing Competition
Do you have an interesting tale to tell with statistics? Would you like to win a trophy, publication in Significance, and a presentation slot at the 2025 Royal Statistical Society Conference in Edinburgh?
Aimed exclusively at students and early-career statisticians and data scientists, the Significance Statistical Excellence Award for Early Career Writing was created in 2011 as a showcase for emerging stats communicators capable of reaching a nonspecialist audience with attention-grabbing stories that challenge myths, shape decisions, and explain the world around us. It is jointly organized by Significance and the RSS Young Statisticians Section as part of the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards Programme.
Entries may be inspired by your research or job, a news event, or one of your personal passions.
Entries will be judged by a panel made up of YSS officers and committee members, the Significance editor, and editorial board members. Winners and runners-up will be announced at the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards in London in July and invited to present their articles at the 2025 RSS Conference September 1–4.
View the official rules. Entries are due by May 30.
Meet the 2024 Winner
Joseph Lam, PhD student at the University College London, won the 2024 award for “Terminating Bias: How Arnold Schwarzenegger Showed Us the Importance of Spelling Names Correctly.”
What gave you the idea for your winning entry?
My PhD project focuses on understanding data linkage biases by ethnicity and methods to deal with them. Researchers and politicians increasingly use linked data to understand the population and policymaking. Bias in linkages is, however, not sufficiently discussed and acknowledged, and people might not know how linkage biases may perpetuate existing inequities.
Arnold is no stranger to data linkage methods! He made his debut in a 2011 data linkage methods paper by Dustin Lange and Felix Naumann titled “Frequency-Aware Similarity Measures: Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Always a Duplicate.” I thought Arnie wouldn’t mind helping us out once more in communicating this important message to policymakers, academics, and the public.
What was the most difficult aspect of it, and what was the most enjoyable?
I am passionate about the topic and linkage methods, which meant I tend to go into a lot of detail in my writing. That may sometimes blur the key messages. I find the more relaxed, conversational style of writing quite liberating—matching Arnold movie quotes with my key points make me chuckle!
What was it like presenting at the 2024 RSS Conference?
It was a humbling experience. Sharing my work with a room full of experts was nerve-racking but also empowering—I really enjoyed listening to people’s reactions to and reflections on my presentation, as well as their ideas and stories.
Top tip for 2025 entrants?
Think about the hook, the message, and the punchline. Have fun—it shows in the writing.