The winners of the European Statistics Competition, an organisation of Eurostat and 17 national statistical institutes, are known. The competition took place last school year in the second and third degrees of secondary education. At European level, more than 17,000 students participated. In Belgium, they were about 800. For the second degree, the winner is a Belgian team: NILGADRIES from the European School IV in Laeken.

For the second year in a row, a Belgian team wins the first prize in the European Statistics Competition. In the school year 2018-2019, the first prize for the second degree was awarded to team Ansofi from Aalter. The European Statistics Competition is organised in Belgium by Statbel, in collaboration with IWEPS and Statistiek Vlaanderen.

In the last phase, almost 70 teams from 17 countries received the assignment to produce a video on the theme ‘Young people in Europe”. The competition was adapted due to the coronavirus crisis, and the winners could only be announced now. Nevertheless, the teams managed to produce very good videos. Team Nilgadries also won the jury award in the Belgian award ceremony (link to press release), and ranked second for the public choice award.

The verdict of the European jury:

“Team NILGADRIES (Belgium) takes first prize in the junior age group (14-16). In their winning video, they explore the future of Emma and Nathan, two 15 year-olds living in two different regions in Belgium, when it comes to education, employment, health and well-being. The jury was impressed by the quality of the video animation. They also appreciated the video’s clear message and analysis of regional differences alongside national data.”

A team from Poland won for the third degree of secondary education. The complete ranking:

Age group 14-16:

1. NILGADRIES (Belgium)
2. TEGLZAROŽE (Slovenia)
3. FRESIITO (Estonia)

Other teams in the top 5: CERVICALIA (Poland) and Tristat (Italy)

 Age group 16-18:

1. ORŁY_Z_IV (Poland)
2. Cirurgiões (Portugal)
3. Trilussa’s chicks (Italiy)

Other teams in the top 5: HAKUMA (Poland) and MARS (France)

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the winning teams are not invited to a physical award ceremony this year. However, there will be a virtual award ceremony on Monday 5 October at 4 p.m.

The European jury was composed of experts in communication, journalism, science education, gamification and video production:

• Agueda Gras-Velazquez, Head of the Science Education Department at European Schoolnet
• Eva Lopez, Innovation Manager and Data Journalist at Deutsche Welle (DW)
• Harutyun Tsatryan, European Youth Press, executive board member responsible for projects and partnerships
• Helle Harbo Holm, Head of Press at Statistics Denmark
• Jo Røislien, Professor of medical statistics and science communicator
• Kimmo Vehkalahti, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Social Data Science at the University of Helsinki
• Maja Andlovic and Domen Ožbot, Videokeks production
• Péter Kovács, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and Head of the Department of Statistics and Demography at University of Szeged
• Samantha Clarke, Assistant Professor of Design Futures in the Centre for Arts, Memory & Communities at Coventry University
• Tim Allen, Deputy-Head of Dissemination at Eurostat, chairman of the jury

Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, will also organise the European Statistics Competition in the school year 2020-2021 in collaboration with IWEPS and Statistiek Vlaanderen.  As of 20 September, teachers will be able to register their students from the second and third degrees of secondary education in teams of 1 to 3 students, via www.statisticscompetition.be

All the info about the European Statistics Competition in 2019-2020 is available on https://esc-2020.eu/