<p>This is an announcement rather than a discussion entry. Stuff like that is definitely off-topic on the main site, and while I have reservations regarding the Meta, either, I'd still like to post this opportunity.</p>

<p>The Government Statistics Section of ASA is sponsoring Data Challenge 2016 to take place at the JSM 2016 meetings.
The contest is open to anyone who is interested in participating, including college students and professionals
from the private or public sector. This contest challenges participants to analyze a government dataset using
statistical and visualization tools and methods. There will be two award categories – Professional and Student.
One award in the amount of USD 500 will be given for entries in the Professional category. Three awards will be
given for entries in the Student category. These are $500 for first place, USD300 second place, and USD200 for third
place.</p>

<p>One or more topic-contributed or poster sessions at the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings will be established for
contest submissions. (Presenters are responsible for their own JSM registration and travel costs, and any other
costs associated with JSM attendance.)</p>

<p>The dataset for the GSS Data Challenge 2016 will be the Department of Transportation’s General Estimates
System (GES). The GES is collected by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). GES
is a representative sample of police-reported motor vehicle crashes of all types. Crashes recorded in the GES
database must involve at least one motor vehicle traveling on a traffic way, have a corresponding police accident
report (PAR), and result in property damage, injury, or death. Because GES data are obtained from a probability
sample of police-reported crashes, each crash included in the database is associated with a sampling weight,
which can be used to obtain population estimates.</p>

<p>The data encompass the years from 1988 to 2013. Contestants are free to use any or all of the data in their
analysis. Merging data from the GES with other data sets is also encouraged. A link to the website with the data
and other useful information (data dictionaries, manuals, etc.) is given here: <a href="ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/GES/" rel="nofollow">ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/GES/</a> .</p>

<p>Contestants must submit the following to Wendy Martinez (martinez.wendy@bls.gov) by January 4, 2016.</p>

<ol>
<li>General description of the proposed research </li>
<li>Analytic questions to be addressed </li>
<li>How the General Estimates System (GES) will be used</li>
<li>Preference for poster or presentation at the JSM 2016 Category</li>
<li>Professional or Student</li>
</ol>

<p>Your submissions help us plan for the JSM 2016 program.
Abstracts are then submitted by the contestant to the ASA for presentation at the JSM
(<a href="http://www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2016/index.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2016/index.cfm</a> ). Group submissions are acceptable.</p>

<p>Full description: <a href="http://www.amstat.org/sections/sgovt/datach2016.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.amstat.org/sections/sgovt/datach2016.pdf</a></p>
