How to Nominate

The Grace Murray Hopper Award recognizes the outstanding young computer professional of the year, selected on the basis of a single recent major technical or service contribution.  The candidate must have been 35 years of age or less at the time the qualifying contribution was made.  The award is presented each June at the ACM Awards Banquet and is accompanied by a prize of $35,000 plus travel expenses to the banquet.  Financial support for the award is provided by Microsoft Research.

Next Deadline:  November 30, 2015

Selection Criteria:  Nominations will be evaluated for the significance, depth, and originality of the technical contribution or – in the case of a service contribution – the scope of the effort involved and its impact on the computing community and/or society as a whole.  When the contribution results from a joint effort, the candidate’s role should be clearly identified.

Submissions:  Nominations for the Grace Murray Hopper Award should be submitted using the online nomination form.  Submitted materials should explain the contribution in terms understandable to a non-specialist.   Each nomination involves several components:

  • Name, address, phone number, and email address of nominator (person making the nomination).  The most appropriate person to submit a nomination would be a recognized member of the community who is not from the same organization as the candidate and who can address the candidate’s impact on the broader community.
  • Name, address, and email address of the candidate (person being nominated).  It is ACM’s policy not to tell candidates who has nominated or endorsed them.
  • Suggested citation if the candidate is selected.  This should be a concise statement (maximum of 25 words) describing the key technical or professional accomplishment for which the candidate merits this award.  Note that the final wording for awardees will be at the discretion of the Award Committee.
  • Nomination statement (200-500 words in length) addressing why the candidate should receive this award.  This may describe the candidate’s work in general, but should draw particular attention to the contributions that merit the award.  It should also indicate the candidate’s age when the contributions were made.
  • Copy of the candidate’s CV, listing publications, patents, honors, service contributions, etc.
  • Supporting letters from at least 3, and not more than 5, endorsers.  Endorsers should be chosen to represent a range of perspectives and institutions and provide additional insights or evidence of the candidate’s impact.  Each letter must include the name, address, and telephone number of the endorser, and should focus on the accomplishments which that endorser can attest to and place in context.  The nominator should collect the letters and bundle them for submission.

For questions on the above, please contact us at [email protected] , or  Rosemary McGuinness , ACM Awards Committee Liaison.