Call for Nominations
The ACM Doctoral Dissertation Competition
RULES OF THE COMPETITION
ACM established the Doctoral Dissertation Award
program to recognize and encourage superior
research and writing by doctoral candidates in
computer science and engineering. These awards
are presented annually at the ACM Awards Banquet.
SUBMISSIONS: Nominations are limited to one per
university or college, from any country, unless more
than 10 Ph.D.’s are granted in one year, in which
case two may be nominated.
DEADLINE: Submissions must be received at ACM
headquarters by September 30, 2008 to qualify for
consideration. This date is not negotiable.
ELIGIBILITY: Each nominated dissertation must
have been accepted by the department within a 12-
month period prior to September 30, 2008.
Exceptional dissertations completed in September
2007, but too late for submission last year will be
considered. Only English language versions will be
accepted.
Please send a copy of the thesis in PDF format to
emily.eng@acm.org. If a PDF is not possible, send a
copy to the address listed here.
SPONSORSHIP: Each nomination shall be forwarded
by the thesis advisor and must include the
endorsement of the department head. A one-page
summary of the significance of the dissertation written
by the advisor must accompany the transmittal.
PUBLICATION RIGHTS: Each nomination must be
accompanied by an assignment to ACM by the author
of exclusive publication rights.
PUBLICATION: Winning dissertations will be
published by Springer.
SELECTION PROCEDURE: Each nominated
dissertation will be screened by three to six specialists
in the relevant fields to provide a preliminary
evaluation.
On the basis of these evaluations, five finalists will
be chosen for submission to a selection committee of
six persons who serve staggered terms of three years.
The selection committee will select the winning
dissertation by December 15.
AWARD: The Doctoral Dissertation Award is
accompanied by a prize of $20,000 and the Honorable
Mention Award is accompanied by a prize of $10,000.
Financial sponsorship of the award is provided by
Google.
Doctoral Dissertation Coordinator
ACM
2 Penn Plaza, Suite 701
New York, NY 10121