List of computer science awards


This list of computer science awards is an index to articles on notable awards related to computer science. It includes lists of awards by the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, other computer science and information science awards, and a list of computer science competitions.
The top computer science award is the ACM Turing Award, generally regarded as the Nobel Prize equivalent for Computer Science. Other highly regarded top computer science awards include IEEE John von Neumann Medal awarded by the IEEE Board of Directors, and the Japan Kyoto Prize for Information Science.

Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery gives out many computer science awards, often run by one of their Special Interest Groups.
AwardSIGNotes
Alan D. Berenbaum Distinguished Service AwardSIGARCHImportant service to the computer architecture community
Alonzo Church AwardSIGLOGOutstanding Contributions to Logic and Computation
CHI AcademySIGCHIAdvancement of the field of human-computer interaction
Danny Lewin Best Student Paper AwardSIGACTBest student-authored paper in Symposium on Theory of Computing
Dhaka SiteICPCUniversity programming competition
Dijkstra PrizePODCCo-sponsor: International Symposium on Distributed Computing. For outstanding papers on the principles of distributed computing
Doctoral Dissertation AwardBest doctoral dissertations in computer science and computer engineering
Eckert–Mauchly AwardCo-sponsor: IEEE Computer Society. Contributions to computer and digital systems architecture
Edgar F. Codd Innovations AwardSIGMODInnovative and highly significant contributions of enduring value to the development, understanding, or use of database systems and databases
Eugene L. Lawler AwardSignificant contribution to the use of information technology for humanitarian purposes
Gerard Salton AwardSIGIRSignificant, sustained and continuing contributions to research in information retrieval
Gödel PrizeSIGACTCo-sponsor: European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. For outstanding papers in the area of theoretical computer science
Gordon Bell PrizeOutstanding achievement in high-performance computing applications
Grace Murray Hopper AwardComputer professional who makes a single, significant technical or service contribution at or before age 35
Ken Kennedy AwardCo-sponsored by IEEE Computer Society. For substantial contributions to programmability and productivity in computing and substantial community service or mentoring contributions
Knuth PrizeSIGACTCo-sponsored by IEEE Computer Society. For outstanding contributions to the foundations of computer science
Mark Weiser AwardSIGOPSCreativity and innovation in operating system research
Maurice Wilkes AwardSIGARCHOutstanding contribution to computer architecture
Paris Kanellakis AwardSpecific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing
Penny Crane Award for Distinguished ServiceSIGUCCSSignificant contributions to the Special Interest Group, and to computing in higher education
Prize in ComputingEarly to mid-career innovative contributions in computing
Programming Languages Software AwardSIGPLANProgramming Languages Software
Programming Systems and Languages Paper AwardReplaced in 1983 by the ACM Software System Award
SIGCOMM AwardSIGCOMMLifetime contribution to the field of communication networks
SIGUCCS Hall of Fame AwardSIGUCCSContributions that have had a positive impact on the ACM SIGUCCS organization
Software System AwardSoftware system that has had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts, in commercial acceptance, or both
Steven A. Coons AwardSIGGRAPHOutstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics
SPAA Parallel Computing AwardSPAASingular important result or a career of accomplishments related to the ACM-SPAA community
Turing AwardContributions of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field

IEEE

A number of awards are given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE Computer Society or the IEEE Information Theory Society.
AwardSponsorNotes
Charles Babbage AwardIEEE Computer SocietySignificant contributions in the field of parallel computing
Claude E. Shannon AwardIEEE Information Theory SocietyConsistent and profound contributions to the field of information theory
Computer Pioneer AwardIEEE Computer SocietyThose whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry
Harlan D. Mills AwardIEEE Computer SocietyContributions to the theory and practice of the information sciences, software engineering
Harry H. Goode Memorial AwardIEEE Computer SocietyAchievements in the information processing field which are considered either a single contribution of theory, design, or technique of outstanding significance, or the accumulation of important contributions on theory or practice over an extended time period
Internet AwardIEEE, NokiaExceptional contributions to the advancement of Internet technology for network architecture, mobility and/or end-use applications
John von Neumann MedalIEEEOutstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology
Kleene AwardIEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer ScienceBest student paper
Machtey AwardIEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer ScienceBest student paper
Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Systems AwardIEEEOutstanding contributions to information storage systems
Richard W. Hamming MedalIEEE, QualcommOutstanding achievements in information sciences, information systems and information technology
Seymour Cray Computer Engineering AwardIEEE Computer SocietySignificant and innovative contributions in the field of high-performance computing
Sidney Fernbach AwardIEEE Computer SocietyOutstanding contributions in the application of high performance computers using innovative approaches
Test-of-Time AwardIEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer SciencePapers from LICS twenty years earlier that stood the "test of time"
W. Wallace McDowell AwardIEEE Computer SocietyOutstanding recent theoretical, design, educational, practical, or other similar innovative contributions that fall within the scope of Computer Society interest
William C. Carter AwardIEEE Technical Committee on Fault-Tolerant Computing and IFIP Working Group on Dependable Computing and Fault ToleranceSignificant contribution to the field of dependable and secure computing throughout his or her PhD dissertation

Other computer science awards

Information science awards

Competitions

CountryAwardSponsorNotes
AustraliaHutter PrizeMarcus HutterData compression improvements on a specific 1 GB English text file
CanadaAI ChallengeUniversity of Waterloo Computer Science ClubArtificial intelligence programming
United StatesAmerican Computer Science LeagueACSLProgramming
United StatesArimaa ChallengeArimaa / Omar SyedArtificial intelligence programming
SwedenCADE ATP System CompetitionAssociation for Automated ReasoningFully automated theorem provers for classical logic
United StatesWorld Computer-Bridge ChampionshipAmerican Contract Bridge LeagueContract bridge using computer software
United KingdomCyber CenturionCyber Security Challenge UKCyber security competition for school children,
United StatesCyberPatriotAir Force AssociationNational Youth Cyber Defense Competition for high school and middle school students
United StatesDARPA Network ChallengeDARPAInternet and social networking competition
United StatesDARPA Shredder Challenge 2011DARPACompetition for methods to reconstruct documents shredded by a variety of paper shredding techniques
PolandDeadline24Tomasz Łakota and Mateusz BrzeszczProgramming
United StatesHalite AI Programming CompetitionTwo Sigma, Cornell TechOpen-source computer programming contest
United StatesImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition ChallengeImageNetSoftware programs compete to classify and detect objects and scenes
InternationalInternational Olympiad in InformaticsUNESCO and IFIPSchool competition
United KingdomLoebner PrizeSociety for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of BehaviourComputer programs considered by the judges to be the most human-like
United StatesNational Collegiate Cyber Defense CompetitionUniversity of Texas at San AntonioCollege-level cyber defense competition
United StatesNetflix PrizeNetflixBest collaborative filtering algorithm to predict user ratings for films
United StatesOutreachySoftware Freedom ConservancyThree-month paid internships with free and open-source software projects
United StatesPassword Hashing CompetitionJean-Philippe AumassonCompetition to select one or more password hash functions
United KingdomProject Euler Colin HughesComputational problems intended to be solved with computer programs
United StatesSemEvalAssociation for Computational Linguistics SIGLEXEvaluations of computational semantic analysis systems
United StatesText Retrieval ConferenceNational Institute of Standards and Technology, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects ActivityInformation retrieval research areas
AustraliaUAV Outback ChallengeAustralian Research Centre for Aerospace AutomationCompetition for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles
United StatesUniversity Voting Systems CompetitionNational Science Foundation etc.Students design, implement, and demonstrate open-source election systems