1. We are instituting an annual student prize using seed-corn profit from the RSS 2004 Manchester conference.  

   We are approaching leading NW companies, institutions and agencies for support. The sponsor will need to be approved by the RSS and will be recognised in the documentation with logos as requested but not in the prize title, which is as above.

2. The recipients will be selected from NW University final year students. 

   While the conference was based in Manchester, particularly as we are looking for support from NW businesses, we would not want to exclude any student at a university local to that business. We define a NW student as one studying at an institution that is a member of the North West Universities Association (www.nwua.ac.uk).

3. The student can be reading any discipline.

   We need to be as inclusive as possible. The reason for keeping the prize open is to encourage students other than those in statistics to obtain the highest level of statistical understanding and competence. This does not imply any dilution of standards. Restriction to statistics undergraduates would lead not only to a small pool of candidates but also the argument as to what constitutes a statistics degree.

4. The student will need to submit their dissertation or a demonstration of their work. They will need the support of a member of the academic staff.

   The prize will be based on the final year dissertation or an equivalent demonstration of the student’s work. A note from their tutor will be required to confirm that the work is the student’s. We may require some additional validation – even interviewing those shortlisted.

5. The work will need to have a substantial statistical component in an applied field.

   This is because we will be looking for business support. However we would not exclude a stunning piece of original theoretical work.

6. There will be three prizes – gold, silver and bronze.

   This is to encourage entries.

7. The monetary amounts will depend on resources and will be announced when the call for entries is made.

   We would hope to increase the donations by the publicity surrounding the prize as well as by direct approach to companies known to us. The prize level would be decided by the Prize Committee.

8. A Prize Committee will be constituted to handle the administration of the prizes and raising money.

   This committee will be formed from, but not exclusively, the RSS Manchester Local Group Committee to organise the event. It may also include representation from associated groups – see 11 below.

9. An Awards Committee will be constituted to evaluate the entries.

   This will include local representation and a representative nominated by RSS Council.

10. The awards should be made towards the end of the academic year.

    We would want to acknowledge the prizewinners with a meeting or ceremony that would enable them to talk about their work. If we leave this to the next academic year, the winners may well have moved on.

11. We should be open to collaboration as long as the ideas and aim of the prize of disseminating the use and practice of statistics is not diluted.

    We are in contact with the other RSS Local Groups in the region for their input and representation. We also welcome input from other bodies in the region.

We will be issuing guidelines to students, supervisors and sponsors early in 2007.  The formal announcement of the prize will be at the RSS Manchester Local Group meeting on 7^th February 2007 and in the February 2007 issue of RSS NEWS.  The first session prizes will be awared at our June meeting when the winners will have the opportunity to talk about their work and meet practising statisticians.  There will be support for travel to the meeting if necessary.