Nominating Process

Award nominations deadlines occur throughout the year, with a heavy concentration in December. Please refer to the Nomination Process page for each award, which includes not only information about the deadline but also guidance for preparing each type of nomination. ACM's conflict-of-interest guidelines apply to all award nominations.

Read "How to Nominate" instructions for each ACM Award, and consult the table below for a quick overview of ACM Awards. For questions on the above, please contact us at [email protected], or Jade Morris ([email protected]), ACM Awards Committee Liaison.

Overview of ACM Awards

How to Nominate	Award Description
Career-Long Contributions
ACM A.M. Turing Award	ACM's oldest and most prestigious award, for an individual who has made lasting technical contributions to computing
ACM Distinguished Service Award	Outstanding service contributions to the computing community at large
ACM Fellow	Leaders recognized for outstanding technical, professional, and service contributions
Early-to-Mid-Career Contributions
ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award	Outstanding young computer professional of the year, on the basis of a single major contribution
ACM Prize in Computing	Contributions by "young" individuals to innovations with fundamental impact and broad implications
ACM Distinguished Member	Leaders recognized for contributions to computing research, practice, education, or policy
ACM Senior Member	Members recognized for technical and professional accomplishments
Specific Types of Contributions
ACM Charles P. "Chuck" Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award	Individuals who reflect Thacker's pioneering contributions in making a surprising or disruptive leapfrog in computing ideas or technologies, and his inspiration of generations of young computer scientists.
ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award	Individuals/groups making significant humanitarian contributions through the use of computing technology
ACM Frances E. Allen Award	Individuals who have shown outstanding leadership in mentoring promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing
ACM Luiz André Barroso Award	Individuals from communities historically underrepresented in computing that have made fundemental contributions to computer science.
ACM Gordon Bell Prize	Innovations in applying high-performance computing to science, engineering, and large-scale data analytics
ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award	New teaching methodologies, new curriculum development, or significant contribution to ACM's educational mission
ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award	Theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant, demonstrable effect on the practice of computing
ACM Policy Award	Significant influence on the formation or execution of public policy related to computing
ACM Presidential Award	Special contributions, as defined by the ACM President
ACM Software System Award	Institutions/individuals who developed software systems with lasting influence on computing
ACM Athena Lecturer Award	Outstanding women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computing
ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award	Contributions with significant breadth across computing, or that bridge computer science and other disciplines
ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award	Contributions to hardware-software design or the design/analysis of computing and digital systems
ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award	Contributions to programmability/productivity in high-performance computing, together with significant service
Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award	Individuals who have made outstanding service contributions to the Association
SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering	Development of mathematical/computational tools and methods for solving science and engineering problems
Student Contributions
ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award	Superior research and writing by doctoral candidates in computer science and engineering
ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships	Exceptional PhD students focusing on HPC applications, networking, storage, or large-scale data analysis
ACM India Doctoral Dissertation Award	Best doctoral dissertation in computing from an academic institution in India
ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing	Winners of an annual challenge to high school computer science students in the U.S.
International Science and Engineering Fair	Outstanding high school projects at ISEF that are related to the field of computing

Diversifying Award Nominations

In this Tapia Conference panel, ACM CEO Vicki Hanson moderates a discussion with ACM Awards Committee Co-Chair Roy Levin and Awards Committee members Stephanie Ludi and Timothy Pinkston concerning the need to nominate deserving and diverse individuals for Awards and ACM Advanced Member Grades. This panel provides an understanding of ACM’s Awards process from submission to selection, with specific tips for working as a community to develop nominations.