UKIACR Data Visualisation Competition Results

This year the UKIACR launched an open entry Data Visualisation competition, the first the organisation has run. The aim of the competition was to find innovative and informative presentations of cancer data from one or more of the UK and Ireland cancer registries.

A number of entries were received from across the UK and Ireland and judging was undertaken by members of the UKIACR Executive Committee. The Executive Committee were encouraged by the number and quality of entries. The winners were announced at this year’s PHE Cancer Services, Data and Outcomes Conference which took place 20-21 June. There were two first prizes – the best infographic prize and the best interactive data display prize. An additional prize was also awarded for the submission that best supports the pubic accessibility of data.

Best Infographic – This prize of £500 was awarded for a single poster or print which conveyed important data and information in an interesting and accessible way. This prize was awarded to Rachel Aloof of Cancer Research UK for the infographic on preventable cancers. The judges thought this was a good infographic which communicated important information about preventable cancers in a visually appealing and impactful way. They thought the data was clearly represented and supported the message about cancer prevention to a wide audience.

Best Interactive Data Display – This prize of £500 was awarded for an interactive data resource that displayed a range of cancer data and that could be accessed through a standard web browser. This prize was awarded to James Jones from the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network for the East Midlands Cancer Alliance Dashboard. The judges recognised the significant amount of work that goes into creating and maintaining this sort of dashboard. The dashboard was created using publically available cancer data and was user friendly and had a good range of indicators and data visualisations. The winning dashboard can be viewed here.

Public Accessibility of Data – This additional prize of £250 was awarded for the entry that best supported the public accessibility of data. This prize was awarded to Understanding Patient Data for their animations series which aims to address the information gap between data organisations and the public about how data is collected, stored and used. This was done in a new and accessible format. The judges recognise the animations are a positive step forward in sharing the story of the importance of health data, its utility and also to reassure the public about the measures in place to protect their data. The Understanding Patient Data animation series can be viewed here.

Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s competition.

The UKIACR would like to thank all those who took the time to enter the competition and look forward to seeing more complex and interactive presentations of cancer registry data being used in the future.