Official Rules
- General Eligibility
Two-year colleges or other associate degree-granting institutions may enter one or more teams of 2-5 students. Each team will be supported by a faculty advisor from the same institution. To be eligible to participate, a student must be enrolled in at least one class at the college or university they are representing, at the time of the competition. If questions about eligibility arise, the TYC DataFest Coordinator will make the decision, consulting their Board liaison and the AMATYC President if needed. If requested by the TYC DataFest Coordinator, transcripts or other proof of enrollment must be submitted for students on the prize-winning teams. - Americans with Disabilities Statement
The administration of TYC DataFest shall comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Any accommodation will be in accordance with the procedures used at the institution registering the team. - Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity is a serious matter within the TYC DataFest. Infractions include, but are not limited to, copying the work of individual(s) or oral interviews without proper recognition in the Reference Citation Section is written by anyone other than the team. If it is found that a team has violated the Academic Integrity of the TYC DataFest, their submission will not be reviewed, and those student(s) will not be allowed to participate in future TYC DataFests. - Faculty-Mentors' Duties
The Faculty-Mentor will be responsible for the eligibility of each team. The Faculty-Mentor for each individual/team is responsible for the proper administration of the TYC DataFest policy.
The Faculty-Mentor will be asked to submit comments about their experience each year by May 15th. - TYC DataFest Judge Duties
Judges and mentors are recruited from the pool of data science professionals. Judges are asked to view team submissions (a video of a two-slide presentation, no more than 10 minutes) and use a rubric to award prizes in the following categories: Best in Show, Best Visualization, and Best Use of External Data. Mentors are each assigned one team. Teams arrange to consult with their mentor on an agreed upon schedule during the event. DataFest is an event, but it is supposed to be friendly and collaborative, so mentors should not worry about revealing any special knowledge. DataFest is not an exam, and so if a team asks, mentors should answer if able. - Event Format
Teams are provided a large data set from an industry partner and a question to investigate at the beginning of the event. They then have roughly two days to glean any insights from the data that they can. At the end of the event, teams submit a video with two slides explaining their insights. The video can be no more than 10 minutes.
Scoring and Results
Judges will review videos and award prizes in the following categories: Best in Show, Best Visualization, and Best Use of External Data. - Individual Prizes
The team members of the teams awarded one of three categories will each receive a prize, when funds are available. A plaque is awarded to the school of each team. A publisher can be asked to give small gift certificates to award the students of each awarded team. Each student of the awarded teams will receive a student membership to AMATYC.
Students of the awarded teams are invited to attend the AMATYC conference to receive their awards. While AMATYC will not provide any travel support to the conference, these top-placing, conference-attending students will receive a complimentary student conference registration and, if appropriate, a complimentary meal. - Disaster Circumstance
TYC DataFest is offered virtually, so in most cases a disaster wouldn't affect the administering of DataFest. However, in some cases a disaster could cause a participating campus to be closed and students who require access to the internet at the college will be impacted, the campus will be allowed to participate, provided they can administer the event by the end of the seven-day period following the actual event date. Proof of the circumstances and the campus closure must be sent to the TYC DataFest Director by the end of the same seven-day period following the event date. If it is impossible to schedule the event in the extension period, the college will not be able to compete in TYC DataFest that year. - Scoring and Results
The TYC DataFest Director will verify and summarize the overall results. The results of the year's event are final once printed and distributed.