Drumroll Please... Announcing the Winners of Tableau's "Data Rockstar" Viz Challenge

A little over 2 weeks ago, dozens of people freed their inner data rockstars and put their analysis skills on stage by slicing and dicing real-world data. They submitted their work to Tableau's first-ever "Viz Challenge" with the hopes of winning not only a free ticket to our customer conference or the soon-to-be-published book by Stephen Few but also the eternal esteem of their colleagues and the general viz community.

A panel of judges comprised of Tableau's own Dr. Jock Mackinlay, Flowingdata.com's Nathan Yau, and other experts had the pleasure of judging those submissions and today we're prepared to announce the grand prize winner and four runner up winners.

But before we do, just a couple reminders:

  • People analyzed 1 of 2 possible datasets: Stimulus data or Mortgage loan data.
  • Submissions were judged based on overall appeal, design elements, and data analysis/findings.
  • Judging was difficult. In fact, we narrowed down the submissions to 10 finalists and then let Jock and Nathan go at it.

A little over 2 weeks ago, dozens of people freed their inner data rockstars and put their analysis skills on stage by slicing and dicing real-world data. They submitted their work to Tableau's first-ever "Viz Challenge" with the hopes of winning not only a free ticket to our customer conference or the soon-to-be-published book by Stephen Few but also the eternal esteem of their colleagues and the general viz community.

A panel of judges comprised of Tableau's own Dr. Jock Mackinlay, Flowingdata.com's Nathan Yau, and other experts had the pleasure of judging those submissions and today we're prepared to announce the grand prize winner and four runner up winners.

But before we do, just a couple reminders:

  • People analyzed 1 of 2 possible datasets: Stimulus data or Mortgage loan data.
  • Submissions were judged based on overall appeal, design elements, and data analysis/findings.
  • Judging was difficult. In fact, we narrowed down the submissions to 10 finalists and then let Jock and Nathan go at it.

O.K. drumroll please...

The overall grand prize winner selected for its unique data views (including "best programs" cited as very useful by both judges); the links from the dashboard to other views and data (called Sheetlinks in Tableau parlance); and good use of icons, is Bruce Phillips, a User Researcher at Microsoft.

Congratulations, Bruce Phillips!

Stimulus Watch Dashboard

Bruce's stimulus watch dashboard moved our judges with his nice use of shapes, maps, and computed sorts. You can download his Tableau Packaged Workbook (TWBX) and explore the interactive stimulus watch dashboard with either Tableau Desktop or free Tableau Reader.

Our four runner up winners include:

  • Sheel Bhatiani, a Developer at Cheyne Capital (Best Mortgage!)
  • Tom Patriquin, a Market Research Analyst at Emerson Process Management
  • Rebecca Sundquist, an Analyst at StrategicOne
  • Raghavshyam Ramamurthy, a Supply Chain Information Team Supervisor at CPS Energy

Again, congratulations to everyone who submitted and to all the winners! Over the next several days, we'll share more of the entries with you so you can learn from the successes and ideas of other people.