The Open Data Challenge: organising Europe's biggest open data competition

Organising Europe’sbiggest open data competition

Jonathan GrayThe Open Knowledge Foundation

Twitter: @jwyg / Email: jonathan.gray@okfn.org

Europe’s biggest open data competition to date

60 days€20,000

430 entries24 member states

Partners and supporters

Four categories

Winners announced by European Commission

Vice PresidentNeelie Kroes

Publicity and coverage

20+ outlets10+ countries

Full details at:opendatachallenge.org

Behind the scenes

February 2011: MootedMarch 2011: Started

April 2011: AnnouncedJune 2011: DeadlineJuly 2011: Ceremony

Equivalent of1 full time person

1. Concept

Who is this for?What are objectives?

Different streamsOne sentence pitchOne page proposal

2. Judges

High profileConscientious

Geographical spreadSectoral/domain spread

Public face of competition

3. Prizes

Multi-level sponsorshipIncentivising quality

Prize structureRules and guidelines

Logistics for ceremony

4. Website

Brief pitchPrizes

JudgesRules

Entry form

5. Launch

Media partnersPress release

Support from judgesCompetition partners

Local outreach

6. Countdown

‘X days left’Continuous coverage

Email and social mediaMonitoring entries

Close loop with partners

7. Evaluation

Keep it simpleTwo phase process

Pick 5 in order of preferenceFilter hundreds to dozens

Quotes and comments

8. Announcement

Post-competition publicityQuotes from judges

Short video on entriesAll winners on website

Prize ceremony

9. After

Big ‘thank you’ to all involvedVirtual ribbons for winners

Processing prizesWebsite as archive

Feedback for next time

Lessons

Keep it simpleToo many cooks

Partners, partners, partnersManage expectations

Don’t take stuff for granted

Jonathan Grayjonathan.gray@okfn.orghttp://twitter.com/jwyg

Open Knowledge Foundationhttp://okfn.org

http://twitter.com/okfn