The DPS sponsors four prizes:
| Kuiper Prize | Urey Prize | Masursky Award | Sagan Medal | Eberhard Award | ||||||
| 1984 | E. M. | Shoemaker | D. J. | Stevenson | ||||||
| 1985 | F. L. | Whipple | L. W. | Esposito | ||||||
| 1986 | G. W. | Wetherill | J. L. | Wisdom | ||||||
| 1987 | D. M. | Hunten | S. W. | Squyres | ||||||
| 1988 | R. A. | Hanel | J. I. | Lunine | ||||||
| 1989 | J. B. | Pollack | C. P. | McKay | ||||||
| 1990 | V. S. | Safronov | D. J. | Tholen | ||||||
| 1991 | E. | Anders | R. P. | Binzel | C. | Sagan | ||||
| 1992 | P. | Goldreich | J. J. | Lissauer | H. J. | Smith | ||||
| 1993 | J. R. | Arnold | R. | Yelle | M. S. | Matthews | ||||
| 1994 | J. A. | Van Allen | K. J. | Meech | J. A. | Burns | ||||
| 1995 | M. J. | Belton | E. | Lellouch | W. | Brunk | ||||
| 1996 | B. J. | Conrath | H. B. | Hammel | W. | Quaide | ||||
| 1997 | I. I. | Shapiro | R. | Malhotra | J. T. | Trauger | ||||
| 1998 | C. E. | Sagan | E. I. | Asphaug | J. H. | Rahe | W. K. | Hartmann | ||
| 1999 | A. H. | Delsemme | D. P. | Hamilton | W. T. | Huntress | C. R. | Chapman | ||
| 2000 | C. B. | Leovy | A. | Morbidelli | G. | Brown | L. | Lebofsky | ||
| 2001 | B. | Hapke | M. | Brown | A. | Brahic | ||||
| 2002 | E. | Grün | B. J. | Gladman | H. B. | Hammel | ||||
| 2003 | S. J. | Ostro | R. M. | Canup | R. F. | Beebe | ||||
| 2004 | C. M. | Pieters | J.-L. | Margot | A. | Basilevsky | D. | Morrison | ||
| 2005 | W. | Hubbard | D. | Nesvorny | J. K. | Beatty | R. | Lopes | ||
| 2006 | D. P. | Cruikshank | T. | Guillot | G. | Lee | D. H. | Grinspoon | ||
| 2007 | A. P. | Ingersoll | F. | Nimmo | T. | Gehrels | ||||
| 2008 | M. | A'Hearn | J. | Giorgini | G. J. | Taylor | ||||
All DPS members are encouraged to submit nominations for DPS prizes.
This year's deadline for Prize nominations is past, nominations for 2009 will be due in the spring.
A complete nomination submitted by the deadline will be considered by the Prize subcommittee for 3 years (i.e. for this year's award, next year's award, and the year after that), or for the duration of a candidate's eligibility, whichever is less. Please fill out the nomination form and email it (PDF preferred) to the Prize Subcommittee Chair, dpsprize@aas.org.
The final responsibility for determining the frequency of prizes and for selecting the recipients lies with the DPS Committee. The Prize Subcommittee assists the Committee in selecting recipients by reviewing all nominations received, verifying eligibility, and preparing a slate of up to three candidates for each award.
Anyone may submit a nomination. The Prize Subcommittee also may solicit nominations from the DPS membership or the scientific community at large. A completed nomination will be retained and considered by the Prize Subcommittee for three years, or as long as the nominee is eligible, whichever is less. Past nominees may be re-nominated after the expiration of a prior nomination.
Though DPS Prizes are primarily intended to honor living people, a posthumous nomination (except for the Sagan Medal) may be submitted within the nomination period containing the first anniversary of the date of death of the nominee, and will be considered for three years, or in the case of the Urey Prize, up to three years until the nominee would have reached the age limit as specified for living recipients. Posthumous nominations are not renewable. Only living nominees will be considered for the Sagan Medal.
All the nominations and selection procedures will be carried out in a confidential manner.
Prior to the annual meeting of the DPS, the Prize Subcommittee shall provide the DPS Committee with an ordered slate of not less than three choices for each prize, unless there are fewer than three valid nominations for a prize, in which case all valid nominations shall be included in the slate. One of the choices may be a recommendation for no award, which may be placed in any order in the slate of choices. The Subcommittee shall also provide the DPS Committee with all documentation supporting each nominee on the slate.
Final selection, or the choice not to make an award, will be made by the DPS Committee. At an appropriate time, the prize and award recipients will be publically announced through the DPS Press Officer.
The Eberhard Award has different rules and procedures than the other DPS Prizes, please see its page for more information.
For Prize details, see individual listings (Kuiper Prize, Urey Prize, Masursky Award, Sagan Medal, Eberhard Award).
