Blog article: Announcing the Toronto Open Data Awards

Published on October 8, 2024
Announcing the Toronto Open Data Awards

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We’re excited to share something new with you! Whether you’re a journalist, academic, volunteer, data enthusiast, a data whiz, a community organizer, data lover, parent, youth, city staff, CEO, (how many more titles can I come up with?!) or just passionate about using data to improve our city, this is your chance to make an impact – and get recognized for it!

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Toronto’s Open Data program, we’re launching the Toronto Open Data Awards! (throw the confetti!).

This is our inaugural year and we want to honour projects done since the program’s inception. If you’ve ever used Toronto’s Open Data to solve a local problem, build a cool tool, or create an insightful visualization—whether recently or in the past—this Award Submission Campaign is for you!

As part of the City’s Open Data Master Plan, we’re rolling out these awards to not only increase awareness of open data (that’s Master Plan goal 4b) but also to incentivize teams to publish data (Master Plan goal 2c). The idea is simple: by recognizing outstanding projects from both external contributors and internal teams, we’re helping to show just how transformative open data can be.

And here’s the fun part – whether your project is small, big, or somewhere in between, we want to see it! If you don’t have a project to submit yourself, you can still get involved by nominating someone else’s work. Sharing is caring, after all!

What We’re Looking For

We’re on the lookout for projects that bring Toronto Open Data to life. When we evaluate submissions, we’ll be considering: (These are just some ideas to get you started—you don’t need to cover them all!)

  • Are you using Toronto Open Data in a new way or presenting it from a fresh perspective?
  • Is your project visually engaging and user-friendly? (think apps, maps, visualizations)?
  • Does your project offer insights, tutorials, or code to help others learn?
  • Does the project help users better understand a specific dataset or solve a problem or important civic issue relevant to Toronto?
  • Does your project benefit or involve Toronto’s community in a meaningful way?

How It Works

  • Submissions Open: From November 1st to 30th, you can submit your project or nominate someone else’s work using our simple submission form (coming soon).

  • Judging: In December, a panel of judges made up of community leaders and open data champions will review the top submissions.

  • Awards: In January, the top projects will receive special recognition, be invited to present to our Senior Leader Teams and be featured on our revamped Toronto Open Data Gallery, launching in January 2025.

Stay tuned for more updates, and don’t forget to follow us on X and keep an eye on our home page for all the latest announcements. We can’t wait to see the amazing projects you’ll submit! Submissions open November 1st!

SPREAD THE WORD!!!