The Elections Mapping Challenge contest is an opportunity to create your own interactive map, data visualization, or application related to local or national election-related issues. Create a unique visualization of the impacts of a past ballot measure, shed light on issues in a local campaign, or prototype a practical tool for voters in your community.

Build a map, write a blog post to describe how you built it, and enter the contest before the deadline of November 30th, 2020 (extended). Share project ideas and progress on social media tagged with #electionmapping.

Best untold story: Create a unique visualization of elections-related data. Shed light on local or state-level campaign issues. Build an interactive web map or storytelling map that helps users understand the impacts of local and regional measures.

Best practical tool: Build a practical website or prototype application to support voter engagement. Address an unmet or local need, for example a web map with information about how to vote safely during the pandemic or a tool that encourages students on your campus to vote.  

Best data mashup: Analyze past elections results alongside other data. Create an interactive visualization or storytelling map to illuminate ways that elections impact our daily lives. For example, how do historical state ballot measures relate to incarceration rates across states?

Each contest category has three prize levels. Winners will be notified by email by December 14th, 2020.

1st place prize:

• $250.00 cash prize
• Six month $50/month Mapbox coupon
• Mapbox gear
• Inclusion in the winners showcase on the Mapbox blog‍

2nd place prize:

• Digital subscription to a news media outlet of your choice (max $50.00)
• Six month $50/month Mapbox coupon
• Mapbox gear
• Inclusion in the winners showcase on the Mapbox blog

Honorable mention (for current students only):

• Mapbox gear
• Inclusion in the winners showcase on the Mapbox blog

Enter the contest by completing the following two activities and completing the official submission form before the (extended) deadline of November 30th. If you have technical questions or difficulties regarding submitting your entry, please email elections@mapbox.com.

1. Map project: Create an original, publicly viewable interactive map, map-based data visualization, or application that uses location tools and focuses on an elections-related theme.

• The project must use a map as a component, and that map must use a Mapbox basemap. 
• Projects are encouraged, but not required, to use additional Mapbox services (Mapbox GL JS, Mapbox SDKs, individual Mapbox APIs etc.). 
• The map project may use other platforms compatible with Mapbox basemaps, such as Tableau or Microsoft PowerBI.
• No purchase or payment is required to participate. However you do need to create a Mapbox account in order to access Mapbox Studio and/or a Mapbox access token. If you have account-related questions or concerns regarding use of Mapbox Studio or Mapbox basemaps for the purposes of this contest, please contact elections@mapbox.com.

‍2. Blog post: Write and publish a publicly viewable blog post that documents what you built for the map project. Your blog may be published on the platform of your choice. Your write-up must include:

• Minimum 500 words.
• An overview of the data sources, APIs, code libraries, and other tools that you used.
• A link to your finished project.
• At least two screenshots of your map project and/or code snippets.

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Complete and eligible submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges. Judges will nominate each entry for one of the three contest categories. The judges will select the winning submissions for each category based on scores for the following criteria: 

• Quality of analysis (appropriate data processing techniques, application of relevant spatial analysis techniques, focus and clarity with which the project addresses  a core question or topic) [25%].
• Creativity (Quality of visual design, ingenuity of topic and presentation, uniqueness of the project) [25%].
• Usability (Quality of interaction design, user-friendliness, consideration of diverse user needs) [25%].
• Blog post (write-up is a comprehensive explanation of the project and description of the process of creating the project, write-up includes screenshots and/or code snippets to illustrate the explanation) [25%].
  

The contest is open to anyone (developers, designers, statisticians, economists, researchers, data journalists, data scientists, community activists, graphic and interface designers, university students, etc.) who is interested in creating a project, subject to the restrictions listed below.

• Entries may be submitted by individuals or teams, however each entry is required to have a lead author who will be the team’s primary point of contact. In the event that a team entry wins a category prize or the grand prize, the lead author will be responsible for receiving and distributing the prize(s). 
• The contest is open to participants who are at least 18 years old as of the date of entry. 
• Subject to the Official Rules, only residents of the United States of America are eligible to win the contest. Residents of other countries may still participate but are not eligible to win the contest.

PDF of the full official contest rules

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