The SSC recognizes excellence in our community by giving numerous awards every year. A brief description of each award, as well as its nomination deadline, appears below. Additional details on the nomination process are available by following the link in each description.

Award Winners

See this year’s award winners page for the latest award recipients, as well as links to previous winners.

SSC Award Booklets

See the latest of the Award winners in the SSC Award Booklets. Published yearly prior to the SSC Annual Conference.

Implicit Bias

Please see the SSC guidelines on implicit bias (pdf).

SSC Awards: Brief Descriptions

SSC Gold Medal Award

The Gold Medal is awarded to a person who has made outstanding contributions to statistics or probability, either to mathematical developments or in applied work. The award is normally awarded to someone still active in research. The recipient should be Canadian or a permanent resident of Canada, and must have made high quality research contributions to the statistical sciences in Canada; the work justifying the nomination should have been done primarily in Canada in affiliation with the Canadian statistical sciences community. A recipient of the Gold Medal must have been actively engaged with the wider Canadian statistical community and be a member in good standing of the SSC.
 
A nomination for the Gold Medal Award consists of a nomination letter, a recent CV of the nominee, at least four letters of support, and a suggested citation to accompany the award. The nomination letter must make the case that the nominee has been actively engaged with the Canadian statistical community and has made high quality research contributions to the statistical sciences primarily while in Canada. Nominations for the Gold Medal will be considered valid for three successive competitions unless withdrawn by the nominators. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is January 31.

Honorary Membership Award

Honorary Membership in the SSC is awarded to statistical scientists, or in special circumstances other individuals, of outstanding distinction who have made exceptional contributions to the development of the statistical sciences. The recipient should be someone whose work for which the Honorary Membership is awarded was substantially done in Canada or has had a major impact in Canada. The recipient need not be a member of the SSC.
 

A nomination for Honorary Membership consists of a recent CV of the nominee, at least three letters of support, and a suggested citation to accompany the award. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is January 31. 

 

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is awarded to a person who has made substantial contributions to the running or welfare of SSC, over a period of several years. A recipient of the Distinguished Service Award must be a member of the SSC.
 

A nomination for the Distinguished Service Award should include a recent CV of the nominee, at least two letters of support and a suggested citation to accompany the award. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is January 31.

 

Pierre Robillard Award

The Pierre Robillard Award recognizes the best PhD thesis defended at a Canadian university in a given year and written in the fields of probability or statistics.
 

To nominate a thesis, the thesis and a nominating letter from the thesis supervisor must be sent to the Pierre Robillard Award Committee Chair (sscrobill-chair@ssc.ca) by the end of January. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is January 31.

 

Award for Impact of Applied and Collaborative Work

The Impact Award recognizes outstanding contributions by SSC members in collaborative research and applied work, the importance of which derives primarily from its relatively recent impact on a subject area outside of the statistical sciences, on an area of application, or on an organization. The award can be for published collaborative research, for collaboration in applied work (whether published or not) or, more generally, for the impact of a statistician on an organization (e.g., a company or a government agency) or a subject area through their collaborative or applied work.
 

The nomination package should consist of a letter of nomination and at least three letters of support, a CV, a “layperson” description of the work and its impact expressed in terms suitable for publicity purposes, and a citation suitable for public announcement of the award. The nomination package should also include at least two letters from non-statisticians representing the field or organization that has felt the impact of the work. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is January 31.

 

CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics

The CRM-SSC Prize recognizes a statistical scientist's excellence and accomplishments in research during the first fifteen years after earning his/her doctorate (or equivalent degree). The award, which includes a $ 3,000 cash prize, is bestowed upon a Canadian citizen or permanent resident whose work was carried out primarily in Canada.
 

The nomination for the CRM-SSC Prize should be accompanied by at least three and no more than four letters of support, an up-to-date curriculum vitae, including a list of publications, and a suggested citation to accompany the award. See the nomination instructions for details. The deadline for nominations is February 1.

SSC Distinguished Educator Award

The SSC Distinguished Educator Award recognizes sustained excellence in teaching statistics by SSC members, through significant contributions to evidence-based pedagogy and in leadership in statistical education in Canada. Such sustained excellence may be demonstrated through the development and improvement of evidence-based pedagogy, continued promotion to accessibility and inclusivity in learning, broad and continuing integration of research or professional experience into teaching, or evidence of success in statistics community building.
 

The nomination package should consist of a letter of nomination from a long-time collaborator or colleague, and two additional letters of support from statistics educators familiar with the candidate’s body of work. See the nomination instructions for full details. Nominations should be sent to the Chair of the Statistics Educator Awards Committee (ssc-statedawards-chair@ssc.ca);. The deadline for nominations is January 31.

 

SSC Early Career Educator Award

The SSC Early Career Educator Award recognizes excellence in teaching statistics by early career SSC members, through commitment to evidence-based pedagogy and in contributions to statistical education in Canada. Such excellence may be demonstrated through contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning, attention to accessibility and inclusivity of learning environments, or innovation in development and/or implementation of new courses, curricula or programs.
 

The nomination package should consist of a letter of nomination and at least one (and no more than four) letters of support, the candidate’s CV, and possibly the candidate's teaching portfolio. See the nomination instructions for full details. Nominations should be sent to the Chair of the Statistics Educator Awards Committee (ssc-statedawards-chair@ssc.ca). The deadline for nominations is January 31.

 

Lise Manchester Award

The biennial Lise Manchester Award, presented in even-numbered years, recognizes excellence in state-of-the-art statistical work on problems of public interest and is potentially useful for Canadian public policy.
 

Any relevant statistical contribution occurring during the previous five years can be nominated for the award in a given year. Each nomination must be supported by a member of the SSC. See the nomination instructions for details.

Canadian Journal of Statistics Award

The annual CJS Award recognizes the best paper published in the journal. The criteria to be used for selection are excellence, innovation and presentation. The year 20XX CJS Award will be given to the author(s) of the best paper from the 20XX volume of the journal selected by the Committee in March or April of year 20XX + 1. See the CJS Award web page for details.

Student Research Presentation Awards

The Student Research Presentation Awards (SRPA) recognize outstanding student contributions to the Annual Meeting of the SSC. Any student presenting a contributed paper at the Annual Meeting, who has not defended his or her thesis by December 31 prior to the time of submission of the abstract, is eligible for the award. The award will be advertised in Liaison and on the SSC website at the same time that the first announcement for the Annual Meeting appears. The abstract submission form will include instructions for students to indicate their interest in being considered. See the SRPA Committee page for more information.

New Investigator Presentation Award 

Offered annually since 2018, the New Investigator Presentation Award is for contributed talks given by New Investigators. Entries will be judged on the quality of both the presentation and the underlying research. There will be one award winner and two runners-up. The award winner will receive a certificate and a \$500 cash prize. The runners-up will receive a certificate and a \$250 cash prize.

To be eligible for the award the presenter must be within 5 years of beginning their first academic appointment (i.e., postdoctoral fellow or assistant professor), and within 10 years of completing their PhD program. Presentations based on joint work with a collaborator who does not fit the definition of a New Investigator are eligible, as long as the New Investigator presents the work. See the New Investigator Committee page for more information.