Power BI Data Visualization World Champs - Round 2 is LIVE

[slindsay]

Post updated: 4 Jan 2026

Power BI Dataviz World Champs - Round 2 of 3

Congratulations to the @ruxandravilau and all of the judges favorites! Read the announcement to learn more.

Welcome to Round 2 of this year’s Power BI Dataviz World Champs, FabCon Atlanta edition! After an incredible start in Week 1, we’re shifting gears into a global challenge centered on climate signals, long‑term environmental change, and the story our planet is telling through data.

This week’s focus: temperature trends, CO₂ emissions, and sea level rise—three powerful indicators that help us understand both the drivers and impacts of climate change.

Your mission: turn global climate data into insights that inform, illuminate, and inspire.

✔️ Week 2: 19 January to 26 January

Theme: Understanding climate change through long‑term global indicators

This week, we’re stepping into climate analytics. Your task is to explore how our planet is changing by analyzing three foundational global datasets:

• Global temperature anomalies (NOAA)
• CO₂ emissions per capita (Our World in Data)
• Global mean sea level rise (Our World in Data)

Your goal: tell a compelling, data‑driven story about how climate drivers and climate impacts have evolved over time.

This subject was recommended by many of you - thanks for the recommendation!

📂 Starter Semantic Model

•  Week 2 Starter File (If you are having issues with the link please download from GitHub)
  
  

📊 The Data

All data sources for this round are fully open and publicly accessible.

1. NOAA – Global Temperature Anomalies (1880–2025)

Annual global land‑and‑ocean temperature anomalies relative to the 1971–2000 baseline. This series shows how much warmer or cooler each year was compared to long‑term averages.

2. OWID – CO₂ Emissions Per Capita

Annual CO₂ emissions per person by country, compiled and harmonized by Our World in Data. This dataset helps capture how human activity contributes to changing climate signals.

3. OWID – Global Mean Sea Level Rise

Global sea level change over time, derived from NOAA and CSIRO measurements and expressed as height change relative to 1900. This provides a second physical indicator of long‑term climate impact beyond temperature alone.

📘 Your Task

Create a Power BI report that helps people understand the relationship between emissions, temperature change, and sea level rise. You can approach this from any angle - drivers, impacts, comparisons, long‑term trajectories, or cross‑country insights.

📋Report Requirements

Report Structure

• Maximum 5 report pages.
• Custom canvas designs (scrolling dashboards, tall layouts, etc.) should contain roughly the same amount of content as 5 standard pages.

 

Visual Requirements

Your report must include at least one core visual, such as: Line chart, Bar/column chart, Scatterplot, Map. All visuals should clearly communicate trends, comparisons, or relationships between indicators.

 

Data Requirements

Your analysis must incorporate two of the three datasets:

• NOAA temperature anomalies
• OWID CO₂ emissions per capita
• OWID sea level rise

You are free to filter, aggregate, or reshape the data -  just keep the transformations analytically accurate. You are also welcome to incorporate additional supporting data sources, as long as they are open source and properly cited.

 

Accessibility Requirements

• Maintain ≥4.5:1 contrast ratio.
• Provide alt text for every visual.
• Avoid using color alone to convey meaning.
• Ensure a clear keyboard navigation order.

 

👥 Who Is Viewing This Report?

 

Audience

Climate researchers, policy analysts, sustainability teams, journalists, and global stakeholders who rely on clear, evidence‑based insights to communicate climate trends.

 

What They’re Trying to Do

• Understand how climate drivers (emissions) relate to climate signals (temperature) and climate impacts (sea level rise).
• Identify long‑term patterns, acceleration, and inflection points.
• Compare global trends or focus on specific regions.
• Use insights to inform public communication, education, and strategy.

Your report should help them see the big picture and understand how today’s emissions shape tomorrow’s climate.

 

🎨 Tips for a Great Submission

• Consider normalizing values to show relationships more clearly.
• Add annotations or callouts to highlight important events or shifts.
• Think like a storyteller: set context → reveal insights → show impact.
  
  

📝 How to Submit (read full article for details)

1. Publish your report to the Power BI Contests Gallery.
2. Include “Week 2:” in your post title - example: "Week 2: My take on the changing climate"
3. Select the category "World Champs ATL"
4. Add a short description of your approach and visuals.
5. Share the link in the contest thread (below this post).
   

🏆 Judging Criteria

Your entry will be evaluated on:

• Insightfulness (10 pts) – Does your report surface meaningful trends and comparisons?
• Visual Effectiveness and Clarity (10 pts) – Is the story easy to follow and well-structured?
• Creativity and Innovation (10 pts) – Are your visuals engaging and innovative?
• Accessibility (10 pts) – Does it meet the basic accessibility standards of appropriate color contrast, inclusion of alternative text, and set tab order?
  
  

👩🏼‍⚖️ Judges

Our panel of esteemed judges includes:

• Chris Hamill is a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and a leading expert in Power BI report design. With nearly a decade of experience in business intelligence and a foundation in corporate finance, Chris specializes in crafting user-centric dashboards that drive clarity and impact.
• Diana Ackermann is a freelance statistician with 15+ years of turning messy data into clear, executive-ready insights. She fell in love with Power BI building forecasting and supply‑chain reporting into a SaaS solution, and she’s been focused on practical, leadership-friendly analytics ever since. Diana judged the 2023 Information Is Beautiful Awards and now contributes to the Workout Wednesday team, all while sharing her expertise widely through conferences, podcasts, and meetups.
• Shannon Lindsay is a Program Manager at Microsoft and an analyst, BI leader, and community builder dedicated to making data visualization in Power BI both engaging and inclusive. Shannon focuses on accessibility judging for Microsoft Fabric Community Contests.

🏆  Prizes

• Finalists: Finalists will be selected each week, along with one wildcard finalist. Each of the 4 finalists will receive a FabCon ATL conference pass and 3 nights hotel accommodation in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Top entries: Top entries from all rounds will also be featured on the Power BI Community Website, giving you an opportunity to showcase your work to a global audience!
• Fan favorites: Entries with the most likes/kudos will also be featured as fan favorites!  

Ready to show your skills?

Let's build on the momentum of week 1 and get to work visualizing our changing world!

[slindsay]

@Dionah - week 3 is indeed live and you can access it from the landing page: aka.ms/pbidvwc26

[slindsay]

@rampie - I'm going to work with my colleage @Natalie_iTalent to help you get this sorted out. Please don't worry - we'll be sure your submission is counted.

[Leanore]

Has anyone else has trouble accessing the week 3 blog post ? 
here is the error message I got:

 @slindsay 

[Olga_Sasinovich]

Hey, could anybody post the round 3 data set and discribtion?

The article is not available any more in the community.

[slindsay]

@Leanore - thanks for calling this to my attention! I'm not sure what happened! Does this link work? Power BI Data Visualization World Champs - Round 3... - Microsoft Fabric Community

[Leanore]

@slindsay Yes it's working now 

[Natalie_iTalent]

@rampie, I saw your entry and moved it back to the community.  I sent you a private message with more information about your post.  I hope this helps. 🙂