Data Sonification Awards 2024
The Data Sonification Awards is an annual event to recognise excellence in the field of data sonification. The awards serve to recognise outstanding work in the field, as well as encourage and reward best practices. The goal is to uplift the entire data sonification community and foster strong connections between researchers and other people creating sonifications.
Categories
The program features three distinct categories, each with its own set of evaluation criteria:
Art
Communication
Analysis
Sonification projects that contribute to the field of art and express creative, aesthetic perspectives.
Sonifications that effectively communicate concepts and stories to large and small audiences.
Research-driven projects that advance knowledge and understanding of data sonification within an academic or business context.
Criteria
An expert committee representing each category will create and annually update the evaluation criteria for the awards, ensuring that they align with the state of the art in data sonification. This ongoing process will maintain the program's relevance and rigour as the field evolves.
If you have experience in sonification and you’d like to join one of our expert committees,
Process
The program will accept submissions once a year, allowing participants to enter works released within the preceding two years that have not been submitted previously to the awards (to allow people to enter things if they missed the previous season because they didn't know about the awards).
Following the submission period, a small team of volunteer judges from the community will evaluate all entries based on the criteria for each category.
The program will then recognize all entries that meet the criteria as equal winners, showcasing these top-tier sonifications in the Data Sonification Archive.
Rewards and Recognition
Winning entries will receive increased exposure and recognition within the data sonification community, offering tangible proof of their exceptional quality.
We’re still working out exactly what this means in practice, but it could include website badges, access to funding, curated exhibitions, media coverage and being featured at academic conferences.
Why?
The Data Sonification Awards offers significant advantages to the data sonification community:
-
Community uplift: By recognizing a broad range of high-quality projects, the program celebrates and supports the entire community rather than a select few.
-
Goal-setting: The program's criteria provide a clear benchmark for practitioners, encouraging them to strive for excellence in their work.
-
Promotion of best practices: By rewarding projects that meet established criteria, the program encourages and reinforces good practices within the field.
-
Bridging academia and practice: The program fosters collaboration and communication between academic researchers and practitioners, enriching the data sonification community.
-
Tangible proof of excellence: Winners receive concrete evidence of their outstanding work, bolstering their reputation and career prospects.
Partners
The Data Sonification Awards is a collaboration between Sara Lenzi and Paolo Ciuccarelli, co-curators of the Data Sonification Archive, and Duncan Geere from the Loud Numbers data sonification studio.
We’re interested in establishing partnerships with other relevant organisations and institutions. If you’d like to partner with us,