We are delighted to reveal the three finalists of the 2026 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing, jointly organised by Significance and the Young Statisticians Section (YSS) of the Royal Statistical Society, and part of the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards programme.
Launched earlier this year, the competition attracted entries from across the world, which were considered by a panel of nine judges including the Significance editor, members of the YSS and members of the Significance editorial board.
This year’s shortlist (in alphabetical order by author) is:
Taya Collyer
On Expectation
Saf Flatters
Escaping False Valleys
Ridhima Gupta
You’re Not Below Average. It’s Just Mathematics
The following was highly commended:
Tobias O’Keefe
The Hypochondria Machine
The winner will be announced at the Royal Statistical Society’s Statistical Excellence Awards ceremony in London at on 8 July. The three finalists have been invited to present papers based on their articles at the RSS International Conference 2026, which takes place 7-10 September 2026 in Bournemouth, UK. The winning article will be published in a future print edition of Significance and its digital version. Runners-up and the highly commended entry will be published on the Significance website.
Significance editor Anna Britten, representing the judging panel, said:
“What a year! Not only did we receive a record number of entries, but they were all strong. Authors came from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa and wrote about topics ranging from wine, cycling and pregnancy to eagles, friendship and smartwatches. Their knowledge, wit and eloquence entertained and impressed us greatly. Looks like the future of stats communication is in safe hands.”
Congratulations to Taya, Saf and Ridhima on making the shortlist, and to Tobias for being highly commended, and many thanks to all the other early-career statisticians and data scientists who took the time to submit their entries.
While you wait for this year’s winner to be announced, why not check out last year’s winning article, by Zhaoxi Zhang, and this one by finalist Sarah Lotspeich?
You might also like: Teaching statistics: An interview with Rachel Hilliam
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Photo: Art Lasovsky/Unsplash
