DataWorks! Prize 2024

Problem Statement

Help us demonstrate the power of data reuse in advancing human health by proposing an impactful secondary data analysis research project. If your project is selected to advance to Phase Two, you will receive funding to complete the research project and share the findings with the DataWorks! community.

Challenge Overview

“The future of biological and biomedical research hinges on the ability of researchers to share and reuse data. Our goal is to incentivize creativity in developing best practices and strategies to share data and to further the NIH’s Data Management and Sharing Policy.”  - Susan Gregurick, PhD, Director of NIH Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS)

The DataWorks! Prize recognizes the impactful role of data reuse on human health. Through the 2024 Prize, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will recognize and reward research teams who propose and execute innovative secondary analysis and data reuse to generate novel scientific findings and create a valuable set of case studies and examples that can be used by the broader research community. 

The 2024 DataWorks! Prize is a collaboration with the seven generalist repositories participating in the NIH-funded Generalist Repositories Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) and will focus on best practices in data reuse and secondary analysis that advance human health.  Participants will participate in a two-phase challenge. In the first phase, research teams will submit a proposal for a secondary analysis research project that can be completed within a 6 month period and incorporates data from one or more generalist repositories participating in the GREI (more information on GREI); data from other repositories can be combined. In the second phase, selected teams will complete their reuse/secondary analysis research projects and share their findings publicly.   

Successful submissions must: 

• Address a pivotal health research question via data reuse and secondary data analysis
• Include data from at least one Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) organizations: Dataverse, Dryad, Figshare, Mendeley Data, Open Science Framework (OSF), Vivli, Zenodo   
• Share results with the broader community

The 2024 DataWorks! Prize strives to demonstrate the value of existing data sets and data reuse practices in biomedical research.  At the conclusion of the Prize, awarded projects will be featured through a number of activities and communication venues. The 2024 DataWorks! Prize will include up to 10 team awards. Submissions will undergo an expert review, with final awards selected by a panel of NIH officials.  Winning teams will be recognized with a cash prize, and will be invited to participate in future DataWorks! Program opportunities. 

The Dataworks! Prize is a partnership between FASEB and NIH with cash prize awards issued by the NIH. The Award Approving Official for NIH prizes will be the Director of the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy.

How to Enter

Registration Process

This Challenge announcement can be found on the challenge.gov website and on the HeroX website. The Challenge registration and submission portals will be administered by HeroX, a platform provider under contract with FASEB.  Participants can access the prize portal by going to the HeroX website, www.herox.com/dataworks. 

To register, participants will first be directed to establish an account in the HeroX platform and agree to the HeroX Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. All Participants must certify they have read and understand and agree to abide by the official eligibility criteria, participation rules, and requirements for the Challenge as stated in this announcement.

This is a team challenge. Participants will be required to identify whether they are registering in the Challenge as one of the following: as an independent Team (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together but not on behalf of an established organization, institution, or corporation) or as an Entity (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together on behalf of a legally established organization, institution, or corporation). Individual Participants who are neither part of a Team nor competing on behalf of an Entity are not eligible to participate in this Challenge. Participants will need to provide the name, affiliation, and contact information of all individuals competing in this Challenge as part of a Team or on behalf of an Entity. All Participants must certify they have read, understand, and agree to abide by the official eligibility rules, participation rules, and requirements for the Challenge as stated in this announcement.

• For Teams: Each participating Team is required to identify a Team Captain who will register and submit on behalf of the Team members. The Team Captain is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors and, in the event of winning a cash prize, will be paid the prize in full. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Captain must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Team Captain who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.
• For Entities: Each participating Entity is required to identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. The Point of Contact is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Point of Contact who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

Participants must complete their registration by 11:59 Eastern Time on October 23, 2024.  Participants who do not complete their registration by the deadline will not have their submissions considered for this Challenge. 

Amount of the Prize

The NIH Office of Data Science Strategy will award up to $500,000 total in cash prizes to the Challenge winners. NIH will award the prize purse in the following amounts:

● Phase 1 = $25,000 per winner, up to 10 winners
● Phase 2 =

• Grand Prize: $100,000 for one winner
• Distinguished Achievement Awards: $75,000 per winner, up to 2 winners

Phase 1 Awards 

A panel of NIH and other federal officials will review the shortlisted submissions and provide scores and recommendations for advancement of up to 10 teams to the second phase of the challenge and receipt of a $25,000 monetary award.  

Phase 2 Awards

Projects that complete Phase 2 will be considered for award recognition that highlights innovative data reuse and sharing, rigor of analysis, and significance of health impact.

Up to three awards will be given: 

• one grand prize award of $100,000
• two distinguished achievement awards of $75,000   

Award Approving Official
The Award Approving Official for NIH prizes will be the Director of the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy.

Payment of the Prize
Prizes awarded under this Challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be subject to Federal income taxes. HHS/NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.
 

Participants competing as a Team (i.e., a group of individuals competing together but not on behalf of an established organization, institution, or corporation) must identify a Team Captain who will register and submit on behalf of the Team members. In the event of winning a cash prize, the Team Captain will be paid the prize directly and in full. As stated in the Rules: to be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Captain must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
 
Participants competing as an Entity (i.e., a group of individuals competing together on behalf of a legally established organization, institution, or corporation) must identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly and in full to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. As stated in the Rules: to be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. 

Entities participating in this Challenge are encouraged, but not required, to request and obtain a free Unique Entity ID (UEI), if they have not already done so, via SAM.gov as this will expedite prize payment. Additional information can be found at https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration.

NIH reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy. 

Judging Criteria

Basis upon which a winner will be selected: submissions will be evaluated based on the following judging criteria.

Judging criteria for Phase 1

Evaluation 1A: Expert Review

All submissions will be reviewed for completeness and eligibility by Challenge staff.  Eligible submissions will include answers to all questions.   

All eligible submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts in the fields of data science, informatics, and data management, who will score each of the following criteria based on the evaluation rubric. The highest rated submissions will be included in the shortlisted candidates, who will advance to Evaluation 1B: panel review by federal officials. 

Evaluation 1B: Panel Review by Federal Officials 

A panel of NIH and other federal officials will review the shortlisted submissions and provide scores and recommendations for advancement of up to 10 teams to the second phase of the challenge and receipt of $25,000 monetary award.  

 The criteria for Evaluation 1A and Evaluation 1B include: 

Judging criteria for Phase 2 

A panel of experts will review all secondary analysis projects for completion.  Completed projects will be reviewed by NIH/federal officials to confirm that each project demonstrates completion of the objectives of the project proposed in phase 1 and nominate projects for the award category selection. 

Criteria for Phase 2 and recognition awards include: 

RULES

Eligibility Rules

To be eligible to participate in and win a monetary prize under this Challenge, a participant team or entity (referred to as a “team”): 

1. Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) as published in this announcement; 
2. Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement; 
3. Shall be a research team working in biological and biomedical sciences. 
4. This is a team challenge. Participants will be required to identify whether they are registering in the Challenge as one of the following: as an independent Team (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together but not on behalf of an established organization, institution, or corporation) or as an Entity (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together on behalf of a legally established organization, institution, or corporation). Individual Participants who are neither part of a Team nor competing on behalf of an Entity are not eligible to participate in this Challenge. Each Team must designate a Team Captain for this challenge.  To be eligible to win a cash award, the Team Captain must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. However, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as a member of a Team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win a monetary prize (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning Team, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced. 
5. Shall not be a federal employee acting within the scope of their employment; 
6. Shall not be an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or any other component of HHS) acting in their personal capacity; 
7. Who is employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS), should consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this Challenge;
8. Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child). 
9. Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission. 

Participation Rules

1. Participants may not use Federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop their challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their challenge submissions.
2. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support or their Challenge submissions. 
3. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise. 
4. Based on the subject matter of the Challenge, the type of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, property damage, or loss potentially resulting from Challenge participation, no Participant participating in the Challenge is required to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities in order to participate in this Challenge. 
5. A Participant  shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.
6. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant  warrants that they are sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware. 
7. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant grants to the NIH and FASEB an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free nonexclusive worldwide license to reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly the submission on the web or elsewhere, and a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice, or have practiced for or on its behalf, the solution throughout the world. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable. To participate in the Challenge, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government and FASEB. To receive an award, Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to NIH or FASEB, but Participants must grant to the federal government and FASEB the nonexclusive licenses recited herein. 
8. Each Participant  agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
9. Each Participant  participating in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
10. As a condition for winning a cash prize in this Challenge, each Participant that has been selected as a winner must complete and submit all requested winner verification and payment documents to NIH within ten business days of formal notification. Failure to return all required verification documents by the date specified in the notification may be a basis for disqualification of a cash prize winning submission.
11. Multiple submissions from the same team will be accepted as long as the subject of each submission is distinct.  
12. Allowable projects  – applications will be considered ineligible if they: a) Propose projects that do not include data from a GREI repository b) Propose only using/analyzing data generated by the applicant(s) from their own previous projects c) Propose to collect/generate new experimental data 

For Further Information Contact:

All questions regarding the DataWorks! Prize should be sent to dataworks@faseb.org.