Shaw Prize Foundation Establishes Award for Computer Science

- The new prize carries a monetary award of $1.2 million, the same amount as the existing Shaw Prizes for astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences. - This is the first major expansion of the Shaw Prize, often called the "Nobel of the East," since it was founded in 2002 by the late Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw. - Nominations for the inaugural prize will be accepted from September to November 2026, with the first winners scheduled to be announced in the spring of 2027. - The selection committee is chaired by Jennifer Chayes, Dean of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. - The committee also includes several Turing Award laureates, who have won the prize often considered the "Nobel Prize of Computing," including John L. Hennessy, Jack Dongarra, Yann LeCun, and Joseph Sifakis. - The planning committee for the new prize was chaired by Tony Chan, former president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who now serves on the selection committee. - The Shaw Prize honors currently active individuals who have recently achieved distinguished and significant advances, regardless of race, nationality, gender, or religious belief. - Since its inception, the Shaw Prize has honored over 110 individuals across its established categories.