The SiS Significant Contributor Award honors someone who has made notable, public-facing contributions that further the mission of the section. Normally, the honoree is a member of the Section, with preference given to those whose membership is in good standing. Previous winners and current officers (including Past Chair and Chair-Elect) of the Section are ineligible. Public-facing work that furthers the mission of the chapter typically falls within the categories of research, education, accessibility, and outreach, as detailed below.
- Research. Research on statistical theory and methodology and their application to sports, most often demonstrated through academic publications.
- Education. Education and mentorship for those interested in statistics in sports (e.g. writing a book, teaching workshops or courses, organizing or participating in mentorship programs).
- Accessibility. Increasing the availability and accessibility of data, code, tools, and other resources for statistics in sports education and research (e.g. R/Python packages, GitHub repos, course materials, etc.).
- Outreach. Promoting the use of statistics in the sports industry and media, and/or the use of sports as motivating examples in statistics and data science education (e.g. data competitions/hackathons, sports analytics journalism).
Each year, the section honors a significant contributor to statistics in sports who is invited to speak at the section's annual luncheon at the JSM. The honorees have been: