Data visualisation contest launched

Postgrad.com and David McCandless of Information is Beautiful are launching a competition to create data visualisations relating to the demographics of UK university students.

The idea for the competition came about when McCandless collected some data about the proportion of black students at the UK’s top universities that he wanted to visualise but didn’t have time.

Entrants will be using this and other data relating to student demographics, including the financial backgrounds and social groups of students at the top institutions. They can also mash-up the official data set with their own data to tell a different story or create a new insight. Entries can be static, interactive or video.

Submissions will be judged on design, effective visualisation and storytelling, and our very own .net Art Editor Rob Bowen is on the panel.

“People are often put off entering competitions assuming there will be hundreds of entrants. In reality, this is rarely the case. Simply entering really could put you in the running for a prize,” says the Postgrad.com team.

The creator of the best visualisation will receive an iPad 2 and there are signed copies of the Information is Beautiful book for the top three. The competition closes on 20 June. Find out more at www.postgrad.com/editorial/data-visualisation-competition.