John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award
	             Statistical Computing Section
	            American Statistical Association

The Statistical Computing Section of the American Statistical
Association announces the first competition for the John M. Chambers
Statistical Software Award. In 1998 the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) presented its Software System Award to John Chambers for
the design and development of S. The award included a prize of $10,000,
which Dr. Chambers generously donated to the Statistical Computing
Section to endow an annual prize for statistical software written by an
undergraduate or graduate student.  The prize carries with it a cash
award of $1000, plus the opportunity to present a talk on the software
at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in Indianapolis, IN in August
2000.

To apply for the award, entrants must provide the following materials:

· A current CV.

· A letter from a faculty mentor at their institution.  The letter
should certify the student status of the entrant when the software was
developed (note that the entrant does not have to be a student
currently), confirm that the software is the work of the entrant, and
briefly discuss the importance of the software to statistical practice.

· A brief, one to two page description of the software, summarizing what
it does, how it does it, and why it is an important contribution.  If
the entrant further developed the software after finishing their
studies,  the description should indicate what was developed when the
entrant was a student and what has been added since.

· Access to the software by the award committee for their use on inputs
of their choosing.  Access to the software can consist of an executable
file, Web-based access, macro code, or other appropriate form   Access
should be accompanied by enough information to allow the judges to
effectively use and evaluate the software.  This information can be
provided in a variety of ways, including but not limited to a user
manual (paper or electronic), a paper, a URL, online help to the system,
and source code.

The entries will be judged on a variety of dimensions, including the 

importance and relevance for statistical practice of the tasks performed
by the software, ease of use, clarity of description, and elegance.
Preference will be given to those entries that are grounded in software
design rather than calculation. Applicants who have developed programs
for estimating statistical models, however complex, should first examine
closely the Statistical Computing Section Student Paper Competition
guidelines to decide if their work would be a more appropriate candidate
for that award. The decision of the award committee is final.

All application materials must be received by 5:00pm PST, Thursday, 

February 24, 2000 at the address below.  If submitted electronically,
the first three required items should be in Postscript.  All materials
must be in English.  The winner will be announced in the spring of 2000.

Information on the competition can also be accessed on the website of
the Statistical Computing section.  A current pointer to the website is
available from the ASA website at www.amstat.org. Inquiries and 

application materials should be emailed or mailed to:


	Chambers Software Award
	c/o Lionel Galway
	The RAND Corporation
	1700 Main St.
	Santa Monica, CA 90407
	[log in to unmask]


-- 
Lionel Galway
Senior Statistician
The RAND Corporation		voice: 310-393-0411 X7957
1700 Main St.			fax:     310-393-4818
Santa Monica, CA 90401		email:  [log in to unmask]


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%