The John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition is one of Ireland’s most respected and prestigious schools competitions. The competition is named after the first Director of Statistics of the Irish Free State and has become hugely popular with both students and teachers alike.

The competition provides an outstanding opportunity for students across the island of Ireland to showcase their data analytical and interpretation skills.

Participation in the John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition will improve students’ abilities to describe their environment with the help of statistics and to use statistics as a tool for making sense of daily life.

The competition will evaluate the students’ abilities to identify a real-world problem within their environment and with the help of statistics describe, analyse and interpret their findings in written and graphical form on a poster.

The John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition is open to post-primary school students from the island of Ireland to design a poster on any topic that they choose. Entries can be from individuals or teams of no more than 3 members.

Students who have already worked on and entered a project in another science or statistical competition such as the Young Scientist & Technology Competition may also participate in CSO competitions subject to meeting the eligibility criteria.

Benefits

Students will benefit from participation by:

1. Learning – collaboration, delegation and responsibility skills which are highly prized and coveted skillsets sought by potential employers
2. Subject Matter Expertise – participating in the John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition allows students to showcase their expertise in a particular topic and develop their critical thinking abilities
3. CV building – helps students to stand out when applying for 3rd level courses and creates competitive advantage when applying for jobs
4. Gaisce Awards – competition entries may be considered for inclusion in the Gaisce Presidents Awards under the personal skills section
5. Confidence – build confidence through self-directed learning, develop written and graphical skills and represent your school by showcasing project work in a national competition

Prizes

As well as the prestige of winning the John Hooper Medal for Statistics, there are substantial cash prizes on offer to the value of €4,100. 

• 1st Place - €2,000 (of which €1,000 is awarded to the school and €1,000 is awarded to the student/s)
• 2nd Place - €1,300 (of which €650 is awarded to the school and €650 is awarded to the student/s)
• 3rd Place - €800 (of which €400 is awarded to the school and €400 is awarded to the student/s

Prizes also include:

• Beautiful engraved silver medals for the first-place winners
• Framed certificates
• Invitation to the CSO Awards Ceremony
• Winner/s of the John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition may be eligible to represent their country in the European Statistical Competition

Important dates

• Registration - Opening soon 
• Poster submission closes - 25 February 2027
• Results announced - 08 April 2027 

Register your team

The John Hooper Statistical Poster Competition is open to individuals and to teams of no more than 3 students, aged 19 and younger, from any part of the island of Ireland. Entries must be registered by a teacher. 

To register or submit Irish language entries, click Cláraigh nó Cuir Faoi Bhráid 

Submit your poster

Please note:

• The name of the uploaded file must correspond to the poster title
• The poster should have NO identifying information on it i.e student names or school names
• Posters should be uploaded in the following formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF and PDF ONLY
• Maximum poster file size is 1MB
• Posters cannot be accepted after 5pm 25 February 2027