Finalists have now been selected for the 2024 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing.
Throughout June, the panel of judges read and considered entries from across the world, and on a wide range of topics from sports to popular culture, all with statistics at their heart.
This year’s shortlist (in alphabetical order) is:
Owen Birch
Have NBA players found the fountain of youth?
Fabio Feser
Which Premier League team has the most impactful fans?
Joseph Lam
Terminating bias: how Arnold Schwarzenegger helped us understand linkage errors and biases
“This year’s field was particularly strong” said Significance editor Anna Britten, “and it was extremely hard to whittle the entries down. We therefore decided, in a break with convention, to name three entries as Highly Commended. A sincere thank you to all entrants for sharing such enjoyable and original stories with us, and congratulations to our finalists!”
The following (in alphabetical order) are Highly Commended:
James Jackson
Modigliani, Fake or Fortune? and the method of multiple systems estimation
Ashley Mullan
For better or for worse: the kiss effect on television ratings
Joe Rutherford
Fantastic cheats and where to find them
The Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing is jointly organised by Significance and the Young Statisticians Section of the Royal Statistical Society, and forms part of the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards programme.
Winners and runners-up will be announced at the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards on 10 July. The three finalists have been invited to present papers based on their articles at the RSS 2024 Annual Conference, which takes place 2-5 September in Brighton. The winning article will be published in a future print edition of Significance and online. Runners-up will also be published online.
Congratulations to Owen, Fabio and Joseph on making the shortlist, and to James, Ashley and Joe for being Highly Commended, and many thanks to all the other early-career statisticians and data scientists who took the time to submit entries.
While you wait for this year’s winner to be announced, why not check the articles by last year’s winner Robyn Goldsmith and finalists Kenneth Menglin Lee and James Jackson.
