The Association for Symbolic Logic is committed to maintaining a very high standard for the Sacks Prize. It reserves the right to award the prize to multiple winners or to make no award in any one year.
The deadline for nominations is September 30 of each year and should be sent to the Chair of the Committee on Prizes and Awards, Jouko Väänänen, by email at jouko.vaananen@helsinki.fi.
A nominated thesis should be outstanding in results and overall clarity.
The thesis must have been defended between October 1 of the previous year and September 30 in the year of nomination. For example, if you defended in November 2017, you are eligible to be nominated in 2018. If you defended in May 2017, you cannot be nominated in 2018 or later.
Nominations should be made by the thesis adviser, and should consist of the following:
Name of the student
Title of thesis
1-2 page description of dissertation
Date and location of the defense
A letter of recommendation from the advisor
An independent second letter of recommendation
Electronic copy of the thesis in PDF format (or the website address from which a PDF copy can be downloaded)
Please contact Jouko Väänänen, the Chair of the Prizes and Awards Committee, if this presents a difficulty.
The thesis should be in an accessible form for the committee. If it depends on unpublished material, full documentation must be provided. It is expected that both the adviser and the writer of the second letter are fully familiar with the details of the thesis and can vouch for its general correctness.
The thesis will be accepted in any language, provided that the candidate also supplies a 10-15 page summary of the thesis in English, outlining the main contributions, etc. The committee has the option to decline consideration on the grounds that it cannot obtain adequate independent evaluation in a particular language. If the committee of a particular year declines consideration of the thesis for that year, then the thesis can be submitted in translation for the next year’s prize.
The adviser’s nomination letter should address the specific technical merits of the thesis, and may refer directly to the thesis details, which the committee will consult as needed. The second letter of support may address any matters considered relevant, such as the general importance of the results and the main ideas.
In view of the Association’s intention to maintain the very high standard of this award, it is recommended that supporting letters explain the context and general impact of the work, and compare the importance of the thesis to that of past winners. The committee reserves the right to obtain additional opinions regarding theses.