Ok, so you'd like to know more about the Sigma Awards and possibly apply. Great idea. You're in the perfect place to learn everything you need to know about this year's awards.
What are these awards about? Why are we doing this?
Data journalism helps people understand the most intricate information about the world. Lately, data, satellite imagery, machine learning and clever use of analytical methods have helped journalists document war crimes, report on conflicts, disclose money-laundering, visualise patterns of global warming, and so much more. We want to bring light on the teams and individuals who do outstanding work in order to inform people day-in and day-out.
Each year, the Sigma Awards celebrates the best data journalism from around the world. To do that, we invite data teams, big or small, but also individuals or freelancers, to submit the great projects they've done throughout the past year. You send your work, we compile it, review it, and the most outstanding wins.
Marianne Bouchart
What's great about this, is that it helps us record the evolution of our field. It's like a yearly scan, we take a picture of data journalism from as many countries as possible, in order to analyse trends and evolutions (we're data geeks after all). Then our jury and prize committee go through all entries, and winners are selected.
What's the prize this year?
There's a US$5,000 cash prize that will be split among winners. Winning participants will also be invited to Perugia, Italy to attend and take part in the International Journalism Festival 2024. It's a great opportunity to come and meet fellow journalists from around the world (and eat gelato or pizza – or both – for four days). And finally, all winners will get a certificate suitable for framing.
Note that we have a discretionary fund to help those who can't afford the flight to Italy, which will be used on a case-by-case basis.
The 2024 Sigmas timeline
You have until 17th January 2024 at 23:59ET to apply via our online platform.
Once we've closed entries, we'll process all the data and our jury made of a team of 20 international experts will review all the entries to help us get to a shortlist.
By the end of February 2024, we should be ready to reveal who's made it to the Sigmas 2024 Shortlist. We'll do the announcement during an online special event.
The Sigmas Prize Committee, made of 13 incredible minds from the data journalism community, will review each shortlisted entry and decide which one(s) should be celebrated as the winner(s) of the Sigma Awards 2024.
Marianne Bouchart
We will announce the winners during an online reveal in early March 2024.
Between the 17th and 21th of April 2024, the Sigmas will hold sessions at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, so representatives from winning entries can share their work with the global community of journalists. It's also in Perugia that will be held the Sigma Awards dinner, where we'll celebrate with winners and partners.
Key rules you need to know
- It's free to enter and open to all newsrooms, as well as individuals, around the world.
- The Sigma Awards platform lets you enter in either of these 8 languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, and Chinese.
- You can submit as many entries as you want, as single entries or as a portfolio.
- There is no category, just like last year, and no set number of winners
Please read the detailed rules of the competition before starting your application.
marianne
How-to apply
Ok, so you've decided on which project(s) you'd like to send us. Awesome. All you need to do is go to the Sigmas award platform, login to your account (same as last year) or create one if you're new. Then you can fill our online form, step-by-step, save drafts when you want, duplicate entries to go faster (but each project should only be submitted once) and when you're ready just hit submit. You will receive a confirmation email once you've sent your work. Then the waiting game begins...
We wish you the very best of luck, and can't wait to see what you've been up to this year.
If you have any questions about the competition, get in touch with Marianne Bouchart, executive director, at marianne@sigmaawards.org, and Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, competition officer, at keng@sigmaawards.org.
You can also follow us on X @SigmaAwards and Facebook.
