RSSeNEWS to be determined...

Statisticians and journalists were honoured by the Society at the 2010 awards ceremony on 30 June in what was described as an incredible year for statistics. Prize-winners speeches were peppered with words not usually associated with the discipline such as "cool", "fun" and "ecstasy."

The tone of the addresses made in the magnificent surroundings of Central Hall, Westminster on 30 June reflected the major changes that statisticians and users of statistics are bringing about. But as several speakers explained, there are still huge challenges facing those trying to explain and communicate what the ever-increasing volumes of data now available actually mean.

In his opening remarks, president David Hand noted that "the RSS is a unique independent repository of statistical expertise". But the "discipline suffers under the burden of public misunderstanding – something modern society cannot afford to live with," he said. He highlighted the UN's naming of 20 October 2010 as World Statistics Day; and that the RSS is marking the occasion with the launch of a 10-year statistical literacy campaign.

Statistical honours

Professor Iain M Johnstone, winner of Guy Medal in Silver for his "insightful, profound, and significant work on non-parametric and multivariate statistics", commented that the honour was a huge surprise. He pointed out that statistical research is now globalised, and paid tribute to his collaborators in the US, France and Australia; DL Donoho, G Kerkyacharian, D Picard and M Raimondothe. Johnstone said the award honoured the memory of Mark Raimondo who had died shortly after moving to Australia, commenting that this supposedly objective science is "very human and life is short".

Douglas Montgomery, Greenfield Medal winner for his contributions to "the effective industrial application of statistical methods, particularly process monitoring and optimisation, quality improvement and design and analysis of experiments, and for his influential and accessible expository work", told the audience "I fell into this line of work by accident".

"When I arrived at Georgia Technical College in the spring of 1969 I found the industrial statistics teacher had fled the scene – and I was pressed into service … it was a wonderful transition," he explained. "It's lots of fun, reintroducing ideas into industry," said Montgomery, who singled out the advent of the "serious interest in quality" when fluctuations are caused by variability.

Watch Douglas Montgomery's speech here on video

Sheila Bird, winner of the Chambers Medal, had as the Society’s theme director for external affairs engaged with the media, parliamentarians and government bodies to promote both understanding of statistics and best practice in their use. She reminisced how "In 1985 Sir Walter Bodmer chose 'Public understanding of science' as his lecture topic and proposed a campaign on statistical literacy … A decade later President Adrian Smith echoed the same themes in his address 'Mad cows and ecstasy' … part of the ecstasy for me today is to receive this medal". She thanked presidents Tim Holt and David Hand and public affairs manager Andrew Garratt for their support.

Sheila continued: "Journalists write well and we want them to write well about statistics … journalists and statisticians have much in common - inquiring minds, designing investigations." She said both professions want "to bring colour as well as facts".

She wished a happy first birthday to Straight Statistics and highlighted the collaboration resulting in the joint launch of the guide 'Making sense of statistics'. Sheila described working with Straight Statistics' editor Nigel Hawkes as "a journalistic masterclass" and cited one of his sayings: "to err is human, to edit is divine".

Watch Sheila's speech on video here

Journalism awards

The shifting balance of power as data – and the means to analyse and communicate it – becomes widely accessible was a recurring theme amongst speakers.

The recipient of a special commendation, Guardian Datablog editor Simon Rogers, recalled that when Datablog started in 2005 "a colleague in the office asked 'why would anyone want that?'… But we've had an incredible year for public data all around the world, starting the MPs expenses' scandal; Westminster is now committed to data transparency," he remarked. "As cuts to public service start to bite, the role of using statistics to show what's going on is even more important." Reflecting on the motivation of Datablog's many users, Rogers said that "people just want to find out the facts behind the stories … what was back page news now makes the front page."

BBC home affairs editor Mark Easton, the first person to win two RSS awards (in 2009 for broadcast, this year for print and online) arrived with seconds to spare, explaining: "timing is everything; I had to do a piece for the 6 o'clock news on prisons – [but it was] dropped because of the tennis".

He recalled how he was awed as a schoolboy in the 1960s when his maths teacher introduced his pupils to a huge mechanical calculator. "Now technology has transformed our relationship with figures … Analysis used to be the preserve of experts – now any old fool thinks he can do it … billions of numbers are plucked and distorted then presented as fact." Balancing this, the web has empowered "those who challenge numbers … now there's fierce competition – people are falling over one another to expose that nonsense!" he said.

Listen to Mark Easton's speech on video here

BBC Radio 4's More or Less won the broadcast category, and presenter Tim Harford explained the challenges saying "We do work hard to improve public trust in statistics – we like to think of ourselves as statistical crusaders ... but it's not very easy – working only in audio". Harford commented the show was "a huge team effort."

He also noted how "many people are interested – but don't understand statistics – fool themselves and do themselves a disservice". Commenting on the need for statistics to be trusted he said More or Less wouldn't "let the facts get in the way of a good story," but noted that "the facts are the good story! We're engaged in statistical journalism at a time when statistics are pretty cool."

Excellence in Official Statistics: Innovation and development

Julian Prime, Department of Energy and Climate Change accepted an award on behalf of the local level gas and electricity statistics team. He said that "DECC is leading the way in government departments, ensuring statistics are accredited by UKSA – a key part of meeting users' needs."

On behalf of the ONS Life Opportunities Survey team, Peter Fullerton outlined some of the survey's innovations. These included seeking expertise from academics outside the UK, and using a social model of the difficulties faced by people with disabilities instead of a medical definition. "We've changed data collection methods, and what we've learnt will be rolled out across the ONS," he told the audience.

Excellence in Official Statistics: Communication and dissemination

There is a "burden on communicators of how stats are consumed; around 50 per cent of UK population lacks level 1 reading skills," said Alan Smith of the ONS, who with Shayla Goldring created the Ageing in the UK graphic. Commenting on the challenge, Smith said "we recognise that not everyone browses statistics.gov.uk during their lunchtime!"

Other winners

Three of those recognised in the 2010 honours, Guy Bronze medallist Omiros Papaspiliopoulos, Honorary Fellow Janet Darbyshire and print and online journalist runner-up Helen Rumbelow of The Times, were unable to attend. The awards will be made in person at a future date.

Closing speech from BBC Today presenter Evan Davis

Evan Davis gave a closing speech in which he criticised the media for the 'spurious use of numbers' and said what journalists did well was interpret the data. See the video here