Figure 1: Visualisations used in the nominations for the Data Journalism Awards 2019

Source: created by the authors

Only 16 of the works examined incorporate more than one visualisation. In these, the most repeated combination is the one that includes static graphics and elements such as images or illustrations (n=9) mixed with others such as maps.

When dissecting the type of visualisation according to whether or not there is recognition, it was found that infographics are still the preferred visualisation. However, its dominance is much more significant in the award-winners (66.67% in the award-winners than 41.66% in the nominees). In the award-winning ones, they are always structured as a scrollytelling, so they are not combined with any other communication form. On the other hand, although infographics as a story in itself also prevail in the nominees, there are times in which they are mixed with different visualisations.

3.2. Functions of the visualisations

Visualisations are a characteristic element of data journalism. The role they play within the item varies depending on the type of story, the audience it addresses, and what it intends to tell.

In the sample analysed, no projects consist solely of visualisations; they are always accompanied by a text to a greater or lesser extent, while there is an article in which no informative graphic representation is incorporated (Figure 1). In this case, data journalism is communicated through narration. This project is the “Driver’s notebooks exposed Argentina’s greatest corruption scandal ever: ten years and millions of cash bribes in the bag” by La Nación (Argentina), whose home