The Library of Congress today announced the notable panel of judges who will select the winners of the Library’s ongoing Congressional Data Challenge, a competition asking participants to leverage legislative data sets on Congress.gov and other platforms to develop digital projects that analyze, interpret or share congressional data in user-friendly ways. The four-person panel, composed of experts in data visualization, application development, the U.S. Congress and congressional data, includes:

• Andy Boyle, a writer, web developer, speaker and director of Platform Architecture at Axios, a digital media company. Boyle previously worked for a variety of news outlets including NBC News, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the St. Petersburg Times and The New York Times Regional Media Group, where his work was cited in the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. 
• Paul Ford, a journalist, programmer and co-founder of Postlight, a digital product studio in New York City. Ford is author of “What is Code,” published in 2015 in Bloomberg Businessweek, a breakthrough piece that reveals how computers, applications and software work. 
• Lisa LaPlant, an information-technology specialist within the Office of Programs, Strategy and Technology at the Government Publishing Office. LaPlant supports strategic initiatives, organizational transformation and government transparency by utilizing agile frameworks to manage complex, mission-critical, public-facing technology programs and projects.
• Frances E. Lee, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland who teaches courses in American government, the public policy process, legislative politics and political ambition. Lee’s research focuses on American governing institutions, especially the U.S. Congress. Lee is co-editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly, a scholarly journal specializing in legislatures and author of multiple books on the U.S. Congress.

The Library of Congress will award $5,000 for the first prize and $1,000 for the best high school project. Honorable mentions may be awarded for best tracking of legislative status, best data visualization and best data mashup.

Judges will evaluate entries based on three criteria: usefulness, creativity and design. Entries are due April 2, 2018, and must be submitted through the challenge.gov platform. For rules and additional information, visit labs.loc.gov/experiments/congressionalchallenge/.

The Library of Congress recently launched labs.loc.gov to host a changing selection of experiments, projects, events and resources designed to encourage creative use of the Library’s digital collections.

Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information. A collaboration among the Library of Congress, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Government Publishing Office, Congress.gov is a free resource that provides searchable access to bill status and summary, bill text, member profiles, the Congressional Record, committee reports, direct links from bills to cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, legislative process videos, committee profile pages and historical access reaching back as far as 1973.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.