1. About the award

The aim of this award, instituted by the Astronomical Society of India, is to motivate young Indian scientists to make outstanding contributions (science and/or instrumentation) in Astronomy and Astrophysics using Indian Space missions and to publish the results in any refereed journal of astronomy and astrophysics. The award, to be given annually, consists of a cash prize of Rs.10,000/- and a citation of honour that mentions the name/s of the author/s and the title of the winning research article. For this award, ASI has received a contribution of Rs. One Lakh from Team ASTROSAT. In addition, a contribution has been made by Dr. S. Seetha, PI AstroSat (ex-ISRO). 

2. Nomination Criteria

The nominees will be young researchers who have made outstanding contributions in the area of astronomy and astrophysics primarily using Indian space mission facilities (high-impact instrumentation and/or science). The contribution should be published in any refereed journal. The nominee should have an Indian affiliation for the bulk of the work done. Only those research articles may be considered for the award, whose first author is an Indian National and whose age does not exceed 35 years. At the time of each such ‘year of award’ papers published in any refereed journal during the previous calendar year and satisfying the necessary conditions mentioned below are considered for the award. For example, the papers published during the calendar year 2024 are to be considered for the year of meeting in 2025. In case the article is written by more than one author, the prize money will be divided equally among all those authors who are eligible in the sense defined above. Renominations for the same paper will not be considered.

3. Application

All nominations for the award must be received by the ASI, by the deadline as indicated on the website of the ASI. Nominations must be submitted via the online interface on the ASI website. Nominations can be made by the heads of the institutions and other eminent members of the ASI. A nominator can submit only a single application for the award.

For the award year 2024, the nominations must be received by 25th Nov 2024 (closed). Publications in the year 2024 will only be considered. The nominee should be 35 years of age or less as on 31 Dec 2024. The date of birth of the nominee should be on or after 1st Jan 1989.

Nominations must include the following material:

  1. Name of Nominee
  2. Details of Nominee
    1. Affiliation
    2. Address
    3. email id
    4. Mobile phone number
    5. Date of Birth
  3. Academic qualifications
  4. Nomination letter with signature and date
  5. Major scientific result of the publication on which the nomination is based
  6. Reprint relevant to the recommendation (include hyperlinks only)
  7. Citations of relevance (if any)
  8. Details of Proposer
    1. Name
    2. Designation and Affiliation (If retired, then details at the time of retirement)
    3. Address for correspondence
    4. Email id
    5. Phone number

Online form to receive nominations is closed.

4. Selection Process

An Award Selection Committee (ASC) constituting at least 3 members by the ASI ensuring technical and gender representation, with at least 2 members working in the area of Instrumentation. Each member of the ASC receives all nominations along with the supporting material. The ASC will communicate the result of its deliberations to the ASI council within three months following the submission deadline.

5. Announcement of the Award

The successful nominee will be informed of the decision of the ASI council and be asked to receive the award during the following ASI meeting.

Name of the Awardee Year
Ms. Payel Nandi 2023