Young Astronomer Award for the Best Publication

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 research contributions in any aspect of astronomy/astrophysics 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 which mentions the name/s of the author/s and the title of the winning research article, duly signed by the current President and the Secretary of the Society.

The award when initially instituted was given to the paper published in Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India (BASI), subsequent the merger of Bulletin with Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (JAA), the ASI general body in its meeting held in 2021 approved considering publications in any refereed astronomy / astrophysics journal.

2. Nomination Criteria

The nominees will be young researchers who have made outstanding contributions in the area of astronomy and astrophysics primarily using Indian facilities. 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/accepted for publication (with proof) in any refereed journal during the two previous calendar years and satisfying necessary conditions mentioned below are considered for the award. For example, the papers published/accepted during the calendar years 2023 and 2024 are to be considered for the year of award 2024 - which will be presented in ASI2025 meeting. 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 18th Nov 2024. Publications in the years 2023 and 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.

1. Nominations must include the following material:
2. Name of Nominee
3. Details of Nominee
   
   1. Affiliation
   2. Address for correspondence
   3. Date of birth
   4. Email id
   5. Mobile number
4. Academic qualifications
5. Nomination letter with signature and date
6. Major scientific result of the publication on which the nomination is based
7. Reprint relevant to the recommendation (include hyperlinks only)
8. Citations of relevance (if any)
9. Details of Proposer
   
   1. Name
   2. Designation and Affiliation
   3. Address
   4. Email ID
   5. Phone number

Online form for application

4. Selection Process

A three member Award Selection Committee (ASC) is constituted by the ASI ensuring technical and gender representation. 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.

The list of past awardees is as follows: