The Global Editors Network announced today that ProPublica news applications developer Sisi Wei won this year’s Data Journalism Award for Best Individual Portfolio. Wei was recognized for projects that told stories using large data sets, helping readers see how national phenomena relate to them personally. These projects included:
- Surgeon Scorecard, in which Wei created a visualization scheme that allowed the public to see surgeons’ error rates for the first time.
- Debt by Degrees, providing crucial information on college affordability while also focusing on which colleges are supporting (or failing to support) their poorest students.
- Money as a Weapons System, which let readers browse a jumble of strange and often wasteful projects funded by commanders during the war in Afghanistan.
“Just as with her colleagues at ProPublica, Sisi’s work isn’t just data for data’s sake,” said ProPublica Deputy Managing Editor Scott Klein. “She tells important, meaningful and true stories with data.”
Congratulations to all the winners.