The 2025 Campion Award for Excellence in Official Statistics is now open for applications.
The prize, which is presented in partnership with the UK Statistics Authority and Civil Service World, seeks to reward outstanding innovations, developments and challenges faced by government statisticians in providing both “business as usual” outputs and the data needed to tackle current policy priorities.
Dev Virdee, the chair of the judging panel, said he is looking forward to receiving entries which demonstrate innovation in the delivery of data, “filling gaps in the statistics that are essential for informing policy decisions”. He added that this year he hopes to see “more examples of how data is being produced across the UK’s statistical system for the wider public good”.
Sir Robert Chote, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, added that the award is a reminder of the breadth and depth of the statistical system in the UK. “Whether it’s a small output for a specific audience or a major transformation programme, I’m always struck by the variety of excellent work nominated,” he said.
Last year’s award was won by the Explore Subnational Statistics team in the Office for National Statistics. Judges were impressed by the team’s work developing the Explore Local Statistics service, a new section of the ONS website which enabled users to “find, analyse, visualise and compare” subnational data across topics including health, education and the economy. Sir Robert Chote commented that the service embodied the spirit of “statistics for the national good”.
Other winners in recent years include the ONS’s The Coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection Survey and its Covid-19 Deaths by Ethnicity analysis; and Ofsted for its 2019 redevelopment of the school inspection data summary report.
The Campion Award is named in honour of former RSS president, the late Sir Harry Campion, who was also the first director of the UK Central Statistical Office – which is the forerunner to the ONS.
Nominations can be made here until Wednesday 9 April.
The RSS has also opened entries for its 2025 Award for Statistical Excellence in Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.