SPIE Society Awards nomination guide

SPIE Society Awards recognize outstanding contributions to optics and photonics by both individuals and groups. While many awards are traditionally presented to individuals, nominations for teams or collaborative groups are also welcome when the contribution reflects a collective effort. Additional information regarding the nomination process for groups can be found below the checklist.

Identify the most suitable award for your nominee from the list below.

• All Society Awards listed are nominated through the same online nomination form. 
  
  

  Gold Medal: Outstanding engineering or scientific accomplishments in optics, photonics, electro-optics, or imaging technologies or applications / highest honor of the Society

  SPIE Award for Excellence in Leadership* (*new!): Outstanding leadership across industry, academia, government, and beyond by advancing optics and photonics while empowering others to succeed

  A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering: Exceptional contributions in design, construction, testing, and theory of optical and illumination systems

  Aden & Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award: Outstanding technical accomplishment in optics, electro-optics, photonic engineering, or imaging

  Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award: Extraordinary achievements in biophotonics technology development

  Britton Chance Biomedical Award: Outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of biomedical optics

  Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology: Exceptional contribution to the field of optical metrology

  Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics: Outstanding accomplishments in diffractive wavefront technologies

  Diversity Outreach Award: Outstanding contributions to promoting diversity in optics and photonics education, technologies, or applications

  Early Career Achievement Award - Academic: Significant and innovative technical contributions in the engineering or scientific fields of relevance to SPIE in first five years of career

  Early Career Achievement Award - Government/Industry: Significant and innovative technical contributions in the engineering or scientific fields of relevance to SPIE in first five years of career

  Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography: Outstanding accomplishments in microlithographic technology

  George W. Goddard Award in Space and Airborne Optics: Exceptional achievement in optical or photonic technology or instrumentation for earth or planetary or astronomical science, reconnaissance, or surveillance

  G.G. Stokes Award in Optical Polarization: Exceptional contribution to the field of optical polarization

  Harold E. Edgerton Award in High-Speed Optics: Outstanding contributions to optical or photonic techniques in the application and understanding of high speed phenomena

  Harrison H. Barrett Award for Medical Imaging: Outstanding accomplishments in medical imaging

  Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award in Photonics: Outstanding contributions to the field of photonics and the development of innovative, high impact technologies

  Maria J. Yzuel Educator Award: Outstanding contributions to optics education by an SPIE instructor or an educator in the field

  Maiman Laser Award: Sustained contributions to laser source science and technology at the highest levels

  Mozi Award: Outstanding discoveries, scientific and technical achievements, or inventions in the field of optics

  Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Award in Optical Design: Significant achievement in the field of optical design

Prepare all needed nomination materials.

• Your nomination will require the following:
  • Basic career and contact information for the nominee
  • Descriptive support
    • Citation (a brief and specific statement; the basis for the award nomination)
    • Narrative (significant aspects of the nominee’s career)
      • Technical accomplishments (outstanding technical accomplishments in an educational, research, design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, or other capacity)
      • Contributions to SPIE
      • Impact to the community
      • Other efforts related to the citation
  • To prepare this support, please consider the following recommendations of possible content to include: 
    • Distinguished and outstanding contributions to optics (or related) education
    • Entrepreneurial or technical management contributions to the optics and photonics industry, government programs, or other organization's service to the community
    • Clear and outstanding contributions to the international optical community
    • Service to other societies in related fields
    • Participation in activities to raise visibility and support for optics and photonics within governments
    • Publication record, including journal and proceedings papers, books, trade journal articles, technical reports, patent disclosures, and high-level presentations
    • Voluntary work with local schools and science fairs
    • Educational history, work experience, awards, honors, patents
    • While publications, presentations, and patents serve as good documentation of technical accomplishments, there are often circumstances where the candidate's accomplishments are not directly available or easily presented due to classifications or industrial propriety. In this case, listings of the contributions with enough detail to justify their consideration by the committee will suffice.
  • Curriculum vitae: should not exceed 20 pages

Determine two (2) references who can provide letters of support for the nominee.

• Diversity of support is preferred. Not all letters of recommendation should come from the nominee's organization.
• You will enter each reference’s name and contact information into the nomination form. The nomination system will automatically reach out to them via email, and they will be asked to upload a support letter in a PDF, DOC, or DOCX format directly to the nomination form. It's best to give them a heads-up so that they can draft their letter ahead of time.
• Letters must be received before the nomination deadline.

Create your SPIE account or log in to an existing SPIE account.

• If you encounter any issues, contact CustomerService@spie.org.

Fill out the nomination form using the link below.

• Watch this short video to avoid unconscious bias in your nomination.
• Reach out to awards@spie.org with any questions.

• Use the standard online nomination form to submit a nomination for each individual, with the exact same nominator info, citation, narrative, recommenders, and recommendation letters. The only thing that should be different is the "Nominee Details" section.
• SPIE will bundle these for review to ensure they are scored as a single nomination
• In the nomination letter and supporting materials, clearly describe:
  • The nature of the combined contribution
  • The roles of individual members, if relevant
  • Why the achievement is best recognized as a multi-person effort
• Letters of recommendation should address the collaborative impact of individuals