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Visualization Challenge

The CoDEx Visualization Challenge is an opportunity to showcase your visualizations for the broader Northwestern community. Visualizations represent your research in compelling, accessible, and impactful ways. Effective visualization can be a powerful mechanism to help your audience engage with your data and understand your research better. Visualization can also make your publications and conference presentations more influential and memorable.

Eligibility

  • Northwestern graduate and undergraduate students are invited to submit their visualizations using the entry form and following the guidelines provided below.
  • You do not need to be an expert in data visualization or data science to participate! Often simple visualizations are the best, and you will learn by participating.
  • All submissions must be a visual or graphic representation based on a research concept or data.
  • The submitter must have been involved in the generation of the entry and must obtain permission for its use in this contest from any colleagues who participated in its generation.
  • Participants may enter the challenge individually or as a team. We will accept up to two total entries per person (whether individually or as part of a team). 
  • We encourage you to submit your best visualization of your research regardless of when it was generated.
  • If you won a visualization award at a previous CoDEx, you may enter again this year. However, you must enter a different visualization. 
  • You must be available to attend CoDEx in person (in Evanston at Norris University Center) on April 21 to participate.

Submission Criteria

Though visualizations take many forms, they share a common goal: transforming research data and ideas into visuals that clarify and inspire understanding. Some examples include, but are not limited to, charts, time-series representations, maps, network diagrams, infographics, and instrument-based imagery such as microscope or telescope photographs. 

Entries must be static visualization only (e.g., charts/graphs, illustrations, photographs, infographics, etc.). Submissions can include more than one visual component (e.g., multiple charts, photos, etc.) as long as they are all related, address the same research question and fit within the size constraints (see below). Submissions should have a title and appropriate labels on the visualization itself. In addition, visualizations can have a caption of no longer than 300 words. Aim for clarity - the most powerful visualizations often tell their story with little or no need for a caption.

Finalists will print and display their visualizations at CoDEx (see more information below). Printed visualization should not exceed 40" tall x 56" wide, and can be as small as an 8.5”x11” piece of paper.

Please submit the entire visualization that you intend to print and present at CoDEx (image and all text) as one file by January 30, 2026. 

If you are unsure if your planned submission is eligible, please contact Research Computing and Data Services to confirm eligibility.

Evaluation Criteria

Northwestern researchers will serve as judges. Please keep in mind that judges may not be in your field of research. The submitted file should be sufficient for the judges to understand and evaluate the visualization and its research impact. 

Your work will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Communication

  • Is the visualization clear and understandable? 
  • Does the visualization improve the viewer’s understanding of the concept or data?
  • Is the information being visualized thought-provoking or novel?

Aesthetic

  • Is the visualization interesting or appealing?
  • Does the visualization use design principles (e.g., alignment, balance, contrast, proximity, repetition, white space, harmony, emphasis, gestalt, pattern, movement, rhythm, proportion, unity, ink-to-data ratio, etc.)?

Method

  • Is the choice of visualization method suitable for the type of data and its message?
  • Is the method or approach original or new?
  • How sophisticated and creative is the visualization method?

Accessibility

  • Do the colors work for people with color-vision deficiency?
  • Are the different elements in the visualization large enough for people with limited vision?

 

We anticipate having space for 20 visualization entries at CoDEx.  If necessary, an initial judging round will determine up to 20 finalists.  If judged on a screen, judges will view your entry at the size you intend to print it.  You will be notified if you are a finalist by March 20, 2026. 

Winners will be announced during the CoDEx symposium. 

Presenting at CoDEx

Finalists will be required to display their visualizations during the CoDEx poster session on April 21, 2026, in Norris University Center Louis Room. 

You are welcome to use any resource to print your visualization at CoDEx.  If color is important to your message, please use a color printer. Note that the Northwestern Library offers poster printing services; see information here. 

During CoDEx, presenters are responsible for: 

  • Setting up your printed visualization between 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. in the Louis Room in Norris.  Wallboards and tacks will be provided.  
  • Removing your printed visualization by 4:45 p.m. Visualizations left after 4:45 p.m. will be discarded. 

We encourage you to stand by your visualization during the CoDEx poster session to engage with other researchers. 

Awards

The awards will be announced at the end of CoDEx.

  • First place:  $500 Visa gift card
  • Second place: $250 Visa gift card
  • People's Choice: $100 Visa gift card

Thank you to our corporate sponsors who make the awards possible.