The YSU MathFest 2005

Statistical Poster Competition

Rules

The YSU MathFest Statistical Poster Competition encourages the High School students of North-Eastern Ohio to discover the usefulness of displaying data in creative ways. The purpose of the poster is to visually tell a statistical story and to illustrate conclusions that can be drawn from data.

Categories and prizes

Entries may be submitted by individuals or teams of students in grades 10-12. Cash prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners.

Permissions

In submitting a poster entry, students agree that the poster may be displayed at various conferences, publications, promotional materials, and in electronic format on the Internet by YSU and the American Statistical Association. Entries cannot be returned. All entries become property of YSU. The University reserves the right to publish any of the entries submitted, with credit given to the authors. If the poster is submitted to ASA, students agree that the poster may be displayed at the ASA’s Joint Statistical Meetings, featured in its publications, and included on its web site at www.amstat.org.

How to Enter

There is no entry fee.
Attendance at MathFest is not mandatory to submit an entry.
A separate Entry Application must accompany each poster.
Multiple entries may be mailed together.
The best way to send the poster is flat between taped sheets of cardboard.

Please mail (or hand deliver) the entry application and poster to:

Statistical Poster Competition
YSU MathFest 2005

Dept. Mathematics & Statistics
Youngstown State University

Youngstown, OH 44555

Postmark Deadline: November 10, 2005.

For More Information Please Contact: G. Jay Kerns, YSU, Dept. of Mathematics & Statistics, Youngstown, OH, 44555; email: gkerns@ysu.edu; phone: (330) 941-3310.

Winners will be announced at the MathFest meeting.

All entries become the property of YSU and cannot be returned. The attached entry form may be reproduced. A separate entry form must accompany each poster.

Entry Rules and Evaluation Methods

Rules:

Posters will measure between 18 and 24 inches high and 24 and 30 inches wide.
Any weight of paper is permitted. The best way to send the poster is flat between taped sheets of cardboard.
Any layers of paper on posters must be affixed securely.
Posters must be the original design and creation of the entrants themselves. Computer graphics may be used.
Subject matter is the choice of the participant(s) or their classmates. An example of the original data, brief descriptions of method of collection and purpose of the experiment must be taped to the back of the poster. (Cite references for published data.)
Paper clip the Entry Application to the front of the poster. Be sure the poster itself gives no information that identifies the team or school.
Students may work individually or in teams. The maximum number of students per team is four.

(For more information, read What is a Statistical Poster.)

Evaluation:

Teachers and statisticians, whose decisions are final, will judge the posters for:

Overall impact of the display for eye-catching appeal and visual attractiveness; for its ability to draw in the viewer to investigate the individual graphs (More than one graph is required.)
Clarity of the message's demonstration of important relationships and patterns, obvious conclusions, and ability to stand alone, even without the explanatory paragraph on the back.
Appropriateness of the graphics for the data.
Creativity.