We have established the SIGIR Academy to honor and recognize individuals who have made significant, cumulative contributions to the development of the field of information retrieval (IR).
Inductees to the SIGIR Academy are the principal leaders in IR, whose efforts have shaped the discipline and/or industry through significant research, innovation, and/or service.
Each year, a small cohort (around 3-5 new members) will be elected to the SIGIR Academy. Election is considered an official ACM award. Inductees will be celebrated at the SIGIR conference in their year of induction.
Selection Criteria
The criteria for election to the SIGIR Academy are as follows:
- Cumulative contributions to the field,
- Impact on the field through the development of new research directions, innovations, and/or service,
- Influence on the work of others, and
- Reasonably active participation in the ACM SIGIR community.
The criteria above include both significant technical contributions (scientific or industrial) and/or significant community service contributions.
Nomination Process
Potential inductees must be nominated. We welcome more than one nomination from the same nominator. Self-nominations are permitted.
Nominations must include the following:
- Name and contact information of the nominee,
- The nominee’s resume,
- A brief summary (one page max, PDF) of how the nominee meets the award criteria,
- Name and contact information of the nominator, and
- Names and contact information of two people (other than the nominator/nominee) who are knowledgeable about the qualifications of the nominee and endorse them (nothing is required from the endorser beyond their agreement that the nominee deserves the award).
Inductees into the ACM SIGIR Academy for any given year are determined by a selection committee. For transparency, the list of selection committee members will be made public. Lobbying (even informally) of committee members is not permitted. Members of the selection committee are not permitted to submit nominations or endorse nominees for the duration of their service on the committee.
The next deadline for nominations is December 31, 2023. Inductees and nominators will be notified of the outcome of their nominations by email by the end of April in the induction year. Inductees will be publicly announced shortly thereafter.
Nominations should be submitted via email to sigir-academy-award at acm.org. We will acknowledge receipt.
Unsuccessful nominations will be rolled over from year to year. We encourage new nominations to be submitted for all candidates to ensure the selection committee has the latest information.
The selection committee will follow the ACM Diversity and Inclusion policy (https://www.acm.org/diversity-inclusion/about).
Inductees
The following individuals have already been inducted and therefore need not be nominated:
| Year | Inductees |
| 2023 | Nick Craswell, Nicola Ferro, Jimmy Lin, Tetsuya Sakai, Ryen White, Yiming Yang |
| 2022 | Charles L. A. Clarke, William Hersh, Jian-Yun Nie, Maarten de Rijke, Jaime Teevan, Justin Zobel |
| 2021 | James Allan, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Nicholas Belkin, Andrei Broder, Jamie Callan, William Cooper, W. Bruce Croft, Susan Dumais, Edward Fox, Ophir Frieder, Norbert Fuhr, Marti Hearst, Kalervo Järvelin, Thorsten Joachims, Noriko Kando, Diane Kelly, Michael Lesk, Yoelle Maarek, Alistair Moffat, Marc Najork, C. J. van Rijsbergen, Stephen Robertson, Tefko Saracevic, Ellen Voorhees, ChengXiang Zhai |
Selection Committee
The selection committee for the class of 2023 is as follows:
- James Allan (2023)
- Charlie Clarke (2024)
- Susan Dumais (2024)
- Norbert Fuhr (2023)
- Noriko Kando (2023)
- Diane Kelly (2024)
- Maarten de Rijke (2024)
The composition of the committee changes annually, with 3-4 committee members continuing for a second (and final) year and 3-4 new members joining on two-year terms. The final induction year of committee member terms are in parentheses in the list above.
The (non-voting) chair of the selection committee in 2023 and 2024 is Alistair Moffat.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. May selection committee members, including the non-voting committee chair, be nominated?
No. This would be a conflict of interest. Selection committee terms last only two years, so committee members not yet inducted will soon be eligible for nomination once their terms are complete.
2. May selection committee members nominate or endorse nominees?
No. This would be a conflict of interest. Selection committee terms last only two years, so committee members will soon be able to participate in nominations once their terms are complete.
3. Is there a template for the one-page case for nomination?
No. Each case is different. Nominators should ensure that the case clearly covers the nomination criteria, highlighting the significance and the uniqueness of the nominee’s contributions and impact.
4. May the two external endorsers provide additional statements of endorsement?
No. This is not necessary. We are trying to keep the nomination process lightweight. Nominators are of course free to ask endorsers if there is anything that they believe should be highlighted in the one-page case for nomination.
Other Questions
If you have any questions about the SIGIR Academy, nominations, or the selection process, that are not covered in the FAQs, please contact the chair of the selection committee at the email address above.