How are Fabric Community Dataviz Contests Judged?

[slindsay]

How Fabric Community Contests Are Judged

We know how much time and care goes into creating a great data visualization. Many of you spend days, sometimes weeks, exploring the data, refining your story, and perfecting the design. It shows. And when the winners are announced and your name isn't on the list, it can sting.

We want to acknowledge that. Creating something you're proud of and not being recognized for it is hard. We see the effort. We value it deeply. And we want to be transparent about how judging works, so you know how decisions are made behind the scenes.

Here’s how the process works:

1. Initial Review (by Microsoft)
   We review every entry that comes in: checking files, uploading .pbix files, removing duplicates, and making sure everything’s ready to go.
   

2. Shortlisting Entries
   Because we receive so many entries, we use a shortlisting process before judging begins. Criteria vary by contest, but one consistent baseline is customization. If a report has no visual changes and uses only default elements, it’s typically not shortlisted. We want to celebrate creativity and storytelling, and that usually involves some level of polish and thoughtfulness in design.
   
   

3. Scoring
   All judges score every shortlisted entry using a rubric tailored to that contest’s theme. We look at insightfulness, visual effectiveness, and creativity and innovation. We also have a dedicated accessibility judge who tests each entry manually for tab order, alt text, and color contrast.
   
   

4. Accessibility Threshold
   Accessibility is core to our values. Entries that don’t meet a 50% accessibility score are not eligible to be selected as either a winner or a judge’s favorite.
   
   

What about subjectivity?

We’ve built this process to be as fair and objective as possible. But we also recognize that some parts of dataviz, like visual style or storytelling approach, are subjective. And that’s okay. That’s part of what makes this work so powerful and personal!

You should be so proud!

If you didn’t win this time, we hope you’ll keep going. Your work matters. It’s helping others learn, get inspired, and push their own creativity. And we’ll keep working to improve these contests and uplift as many voices as we can.

What's next?

👉 Stay tuned to aka.ms/communitycontests for all the latest contest happenings, upcoming themes, and ways to get involved.

[Mayamiko]

I'm grateful for the transparency shared here @slindsay . It’s encouraging to see how much thought is put into building a fair and inclusive contest!

[HockeySkytte]

Thanks for the clarification on the judging process. 

I think the contest description was a little bit unclear though. When I read the post I just thought it was a birthday celebration and the data used for the contest had to be publicly available. I didn't realize that the report had to describe a 10 year progress. Looking at the entries, I think more than half of the ones that didn't use the provided sample data misunderstood the theme of the contest (so at least it's not just me).
For future events I think you should be a little clearer on the requirements.

Thanks again for setting up the contest - more of that please! Even if it was a bit frustrating to put in so many hours for a report that in the end wasn't even considered.

[slindsay]

@HockeySkytte - thanks so much for taking the time to read through the article and to post your reply. This is great feedback, and totally understandable how it's so frustrating when the contest description wasn't clear. We always have room for improvement!

We'll work on providing clarity, and I welcome you to continue to provide feedback and ask questions! Thanks for choosing to spend your precious time contributing to this community.