The SIGACCESS ASSETS Paper Impact Award is presented every other year (in odd-numbered years) to the authors of an ASSETS conference paper that has had a significant impact on computing and information technology that addresses the needs of persons with disabilities. The award recognizes work that presents a significant innovation or contribution to knowledge that has proved influential.
The selection committee will focus on a paper’s impact as judged by influence in the research community, a community of practice, industry, and/or social impact resulting from the work. The award includes a $500 prize and a plaque of recognition for the paper’s authors. A public citation for the award will be placed on the SIGACCESS website. The ASSETS registration fee for one author of the selected paper will be waived if the author is able to attend the ASSETS conference to receive the award.
Technical papers presented 10 or more years prior to the award year are eligible. For the 2021 award, papers published at ASSETS 2013 or earlier are eligible.
Suggesting a paper for consideration
Is there an ASSETS paper, published in 2013 or earlier, that has influenced your work? To jog your memory, there’s a list of most cited ASSETS papers(scroll down to the ‘Most popular’ section). Or you can visit https://www.semanticscholar.org/ and look for papers at ASSETS in the appropriate time range. You aren’t limited to these lists: if there is a paper that has influenced you, we’d like to hear about it. Previous award winners are listed below.
Submitting a nomination for the award
Submissions for the 2023 award are due by August 16th, 2023.
Nominations for the award should include:
- A statement summarizing the paper’s impact, the significance of the work, and justification of the nomination (two pages maximum);
- Up to three endorsements supporting the nomination, and describing the significant contributions of the paper. Each endorsement should be no more than 300 words.
The nomination rules are:
- The nominated paper can be any full technical paper appearing in the ASSETS proceedings 10+ years prior to the award year.
- The nominator must be a SIGACCESS member.
- The nominator and the endorsers must not be authors of the nominated paper.
- Nominations that do not result in an award will be reconsidered for one further award cycle, with the option of updating the original nomination to reflect additional impact. Subsequently, a new nomination must be provided.
- Papers with authors who are current members of the SIGACCESS Executive Committee or members of the Awards Selection Committee are not eligible.
Please send your nomination by email to sharitrewin@gmail.com.
Selection Committee
The 2023 Awards Selection committee is chaired by Dr Shari Trewin from Google, USA, joined by Dr Jeffrey Bigham from Apple and Carnegie-Mellon University, USA, and Professor Tiago Guerreiro, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
The SIGACCESS Awards Selection Committee members are appointed by the current SIGACCESS officers and serve staggered three year terms. The committee chair adjudicates conflicts of interest, appointing substitutes to the committee as necessary.