Inspiring Images: Data in Focus

Data brings the world into focus

This contest is built on a simple idea: some of the most powerful learning at BYU happens outside the classroom — in labs, field sites, and offices where statistics meets the real world. This contest is an invitation to document that experience.

If you’re a BYU statistics, actuarial science, or data science major spending your summer in an internship, research assistantship, or other data-driven experience, we want to see and share your story. Selected entries will be featured in a gallery on the first floor of the West View Building, giving future students a window into the exciting, meaningful work Cougars are doing.

THE THEME: Inspiring Images

Statistics is more than computation—it’s a way of finding truth, solving problems, and serving people. Your caption is your chance to capture that spirit:

• The Insight — Was there a moment this summer when the data revealed something unexpected? When a method you’d only seen in class suddenly solved a real problem?
• The Impact — How is the work you’re doing this summer serving others—a company, a community, a patient population, the world?
• The Journey — Where did the work take you — in the data, in your thinking, or in your sense of what statistics can do?

HOW TO ENTER — 3 STEPS

1. Capture 2 Photos

A View from Where You Are — Photograph the place you’re spending your summer. A city skyline, a research campus, the landscape around you—anything that captures the essence of your location.
A Selfie at Your Workstation — Take a selfie where the work actually happens. Traditional office, co-working space, field site, home desk—show us where the discovery unfolds.
Photo guidelines:

• Submissions must be at least 4 MB; 5 MB or larger encouraged. Submit as JPEG or TIFF.
• The View From Where You Are photo needs sufficient resolution to be enlarged to 16” × 20”. The selfie will be printed in a smaller format.
• Basic edits only (crop, exposure, color). Black and white is also welcome.
• Please follow BYU Honor Code and best safety practices.

2. Write Your Caption

In 75–150 words, tell us about your summer. Draw from one or more of the theme prompts above — the insight, the impact, the journey. Every caption must include your city and state (or city and country) and company or institution name.

3. Submit by 9:00 p.m. MDT, Tuesday, 15 September 2026

Email your two photos and caption to InspiringImages@byu.edu with the subject line: BYU Inspiring Images Submission
Name your files: Last_First_view.jpg and Last_First_selfie.jpg

One entry per student.

AWARDS

Hallway Gallery

Winning and honorable-mention photos will be professionally printed and mounted for a colorful Fall 2026 exhibit in the first-floor corridor of the West View Building. Winners will be notified in late September. Judges are BYU Statistics faculty and staff. The department reserves the right to refuse any entry not meeting the guidelines.

FINE PRINT

• Entrants must be BYU statistics, actuarial, or data science students who will be enrolled at BYU in Fall 2026.
• Photos must be taken between 1 May and 15 September 2026.
• By submitting, you grant the BYU Department of Statistics non-exclusive rights to display and use your images (with credit) in print, online, and social media.
• One prize per student.
• Submission implies acceptance of all rules above.

Questions? Email InspiringImages@byu.edu