2023 DataWorks! Prize

The DataWorks! Prize, set to take place in 2023, represents an active initiative to enhance data sharing and reuse strategies within the biological and biomedical research communities. As stated by Dr. Susan Gregurick, Director of NIH ODSS, the future of these fields highly depends on such endeavors. The overriding aim of this initiative is to encourage and reward creative applications of data management and sharing techniques, advancing the NIH's Data Management and Sharing Policy.

The DataWorks! Prize, set up in collaboration between NIH and FASEB, gives due recognition to excellent data practices in biological and biomedical research labs that foster robust data sharing and reuse during the research process. Moreover, it aims to compile and share a functional archive of best practice methods that future researchers can implement.

The Prize has a special emphasis on innovative "recipes" or strategies that significantly boost biological and biomedical research. Submitted strategies should be comprehensive and effective enough for their peers to replicate and should contribute towards effective data management during the research process.

The 2023 Prize aims to collate an extensive selection of these best practices, which will be hosted on the DataWorks! Help Desk. This resource will serve the research community by facilitating easier and more successful data management, sharing, and reuse.

A maximum of 16 teams will be recognised through team awards. Submissions will undergo rigorous scrutiny by an expert panel, with the final awards designated by a panel of NIH judges. Winners will not only receive a cash prize, but will also be invited to engage in future DataWorks! Program opportunities.

The DataWorks! Prize is made possible through a collaboration between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), with prize money funded by the NIH.

Key dates of challenge:

- The challenge commences on May 23, 2023

- Submissions open from June 1, 2023

- Deadline for submissions is August 15, 2023

- Judging period starts from August 16, 2023 and ends on October 30, 2023

- Winners will be announced on January 2024

The NIH, under its Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS), is running this challenge in accordance with the 2010 COMPETES Reauthorization Act as amended [15 U.S.C. § 3719]. The ODSS has a key mission to improve the adoption and application of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles. This challenge serves to aid this mission by encouraging and rewarding enhanced data management practices across NIH-funded research, to ultimately promote superior data discovery, sharing, and secondary use.