Third European Statistics Competition

How did this year's European final unfold?

In the school year 2019/2020 over 17,000 students from 17 countries signed up for the third edition of this statistical literacy competition. After a tough national phase, the winning teams in each participating country were invited to make a two-minute video on the topic 'Young people in Europe'. Using official statistics, contestants had to demonstrate which issues young people in their country or region face. In spite of the extra challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the students produced some really amazing videos. 
A jury of European experts assessed the 57 submissions to choose the top videos in both the age group 14–16 (27 submissions) and the age group 16–18 (30 submissions). 

 Winners of the 14–16 age group

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.
The second and third teams chose live action videos to tell their stories. The second place goes to team TEGLZAROŽE (Slovenia) with their focus on protagonist Marija and her educational and labour market opportunities. Team FRESIITO (Estonia) obtains third place with their video about carbon footprint. 
The teams CERVICALIA (Poland) and Tristat (Italy) completed the top five.

Winners of the 16–18 age group

In the senior age group (16–18), the first prize goes to team ORŁY_Z_IV (Poland). Through a Lego-block-animation, their video describes some of the issues young people are facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The team impressed the jury not only by their very creative, refreshing and relatable video, but also by the way they looked for data with links to the current crisis.
The second and third places were a close call. Team Cirurgiões (Portugal) takes home second place with its live action story about the labour market opportunities of protagonist Ted. Team Trilussa’s chicks (Italy) obtains third place with an animated video about drunk driving. 
The videos of the teams HAKUMA (Poland) and MARS (France) also earned a place in the top five.

Other teams from Slovenia that competed in the final of the third European Statistics Competition prepared the following videos:
Video 20IN20
Video TRIUMVIRAT
Video YOBAMA

A virtual award ceremony will take place on 5 October 2020 16:00 CET. You will be able to follow it live on the Eurostat Facebook page.

This year’s jury was composed of experts in the fields of 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)

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The four winning teams will continue with the European phase of the competition

The 3rd European Statistics Competition is going to continue at the European level. Teams from 17 countries will have more time than usual to prepare the video and they are going to use remote video making.

How will the competition continue?

The four winning teams of this year’s national phase – 20IN20 and YOBAMA from category A, and TRIUMVIRAT and TEGLZAROŽE from category B – will face the next challenge. Their final assignment will be to prepare a two-minute video on the topic »Young people in Europe«. Based on the official statistics, the teams will present the issues that young people in Slovenia are dealing with and compare them with the problems of young people in other European countries.

As due to the present situation with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) teams cannot meet to work on the videos, they are encouraged to use remote working options. This time they will have more time to prepare the video, i.e. from 7 April to 15 July 2020. The final results are expected to be announced in September 2020. After that, the winners of each category will be invited to the award ceremony if the circumstances will allow it. A new date and location to hold the ceremony will be set as soon as possible. 

We wish all teams a lot of creative inspiration and success in the final act of the 3rd European Statistics Competition.

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The winning teams of the national phase of the 3rd European Statistics Competition are …

We conclude the national part of the 3rd European Statistics Competition by announcing the names of four winning teams that have been most successful in two different subcategories: two were determined by an expert jury and the other two selected within public voting by receiving most public votes.

Who are this year's national winners?

The teams participating at the national level were competing in two categories: in category A (the last two years of upper secondary schools) and in category B (the first two years of upper secondary schools). All teams had to prepare a research paper with an analysis on a dataset about families in Slovenia; some teams were analysing characteristics of families at the national level, while some looked for regional features or local differences. 

According to the evaluation of research papers by the expert jury, the best ranked in category A was the research paper prepared by the team 20IN20 from Gimnazija Kranj and the research paper of the team TRIUMVIRAT from Gimnazija Koper was ranked as the best in category B.  

The winning team of category A: 20IN20 from Gimnazija Kranj

The winning team of category B: TRIUMVIRAT from Gimnazija Koper

According to the public choice, the winning team in category A is the team YOBAMA from Gimnazija Želimlje and in category B the team TEGLZAROŽE from Gimnazija Franca Miklošiča Ljutomer.

The public choice winning team of category A: YOBAMA from Gimnazija Želimlje

The public choice winning team of category B: TEGLZAROŽE from Gimnazija Franca Miklošiča Ljutomer

The expert jury also declared the second and third ranked teams in each category. In category A these are the team RADOVEDNI from Gimnazija Lava and the team FREKVENCA from Prva gimnazija Maribor; in category B these are the team USPEŠNE from Gimnazija Želimlje and the team DNA from Gimnazija Novo mesto. 

All teams mentioned above will be awarded for their achievements as well as one of the voters who participated in the public choice; the latter has already been selected by a draw and will receive an award.

What about the European phase of the competition?

For all four winning teams, the competition will normally continue at the European level, but due to the current situation in Slovenia and in 16 other participating European countries this will not be possible according to the planned schedule. Uncertain circumstances do not allow us to predict when we will be able to start with the European part of the competition. We will inform all Slovenian teams participating in the European Finals about the further course of the competition as soon as possible. All relevant information in this regard will also be published on this website and other information channels. 

We congratulate all competitors for their achievements!  

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Sign up and participate!

This year the opening of the European Statistics Competition (ESC) occurs on the European Statistics Day. Until 14 January 2020, secondary school pupils and their teachers have time to form teams of up to three pupils and then sign up for the competition with their tutor.

You can register you team at https://www.esc-2020.eu/esc_SI/reg_index.do?L=7.

What is new in the 3rd European Statistics Competition?

• By upgrading your knowledge while enjoying teamwork with your classmates, you will be running for bronze, silver or gold recognition for your results.
• For the first time at the ESC, a public vote will take place, allowing everyone except competitors and the jury to vote for the research assignment they favoured the most in each category, thus contributing to the selection of two out of four teams to qualify for the ESC Finals. Yet, not only the teams will be awarded for the win, but also someone drawn among all the voters will also receive an award for having taken part in voting. The other two teams participating in the ESC Finals will be decided by a jury of experts.

What else do you need to know about the European Statistics Competition?

• All secondary school pupils can take part in the ESC, participation is free of charge. Participants can solve the tasks at school, at home, in the library – anywhere, on a computer with Internet access.
• Participants compete firstly at the school level, and if they qualify for the national competition level, they can also run to take part in the ESC Finals.
• On their way to the finals, participants have to excel in solving various statistical problems, searching for data and in preparing statistical analyses. Along the competition, participants learn about many interesting data on Slovenia and the European countries, and have a chance to use various software tools for data processing and data visualization.
• The tasks on statistics are adapted to the knowledge of the participants and therefore the competition is organized in two groups: in category A, where secondary school pupils of the last two grades of secondary education compete, and in category B, where secondary school pupils of the first two grades compete.

To find out more about the competition and tasks, read the rules, look through the examples and see if you can find the answers to your questions:

Rules for the national phase (only in Slovene)
Rules for the European phase (only in Slovene)
Examples of assignments (only in Slovene)
FAQ (only in Slovene)

Competition timeline 
National phase:
Registration period: 21. 10. 2019–14. 1. 2020.
School level 
- Competition: 15. 1.–28. 1. 2020.
- Announcement of results: 30. 1. 2020. 
National level 
- Competition: 31. 1.–1. 3. 2020. 
- Announcement of results: 27. 3. 2020. 
European phase:
Registration period: 27. 3.–4. 5. 2020. 
European finals:
- Competition: 27. 3.–5. 5. 2020.
- Announcement of results: 20. 5. 2020.

What about the awards?

• The main award at national level is an electronic device (worth around EUR 250), which is awarded to each of the members of the winning team (pupils and tutors) both in category A and in category B. Teams ranking second and third will be awarded as well. All teams will receive the awards at the award ceremony at SURS's headquarters. 
• Members of the winning team in both categories in the public choice award category will each receive an electronic device (worth around EUR 150). The same prize will be awarded also to one of the participants of public voting who will be drawn by lots. 
• All competitors with positive score results on the school level will receive a promotional T-shirt. 
• The award for the first place in category A and in category B at the ESC Finals will be awarded a gift card (worth EUR 400). The award ceremony will take place in Budapest at the Q2020 Conference in June 2020.  

Do you still have questions that need to be answered? 
Contact us at: statigre.surs@gov.si
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Past editions of the competition:
1st European Statistics Competition
2nd European Statistics Competition