The SIGACT Distinguished Service Prize is given biennially to an individual who has made substantial service contributions to the Theoretical Computer Science community. (Before the 2002 award, the award was given annually.) It is presented at the ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, and comes with a $1,000 prize, a travel grant of up to $700 to attend the conference, and complimentary conference registration.

The prize can be awarded to an individual for a single contribution or for a series of contributions over a career. All living individuals are eligible with the exception of previous awardees, the sitting SIGACT Chair, an individual who nominated a majority of the current selection committee members, or a member of the current selection committee.

The winner is selected by a three-member committee. The SIGACT chair appoints the selection committee to serve staggered terms over three award cycles. The 2012 selection committee members are Dick Karp, Tom Leighton and Hal Gabow (chair).

Nominations can be made by any member of the Theory of Computing community and should contain a statement of no more than 500 words explaining why the candidate deserves the award. The nomination can also include an additional separate listing of service activities. The nomination must include the name, postal address, phone number, and e-mail address of the nominator. Additional support letters may be submitted, although this is not a requirement. Nominations are to be submitted electronically in PDF format by March 1, 2012, to the chair of the selection committee, Hal Gabow, at hal@cs.colorado.edu.

• 2010: Hal Gabow
• 2008: Richard Karp
• 2006: Tom Leighton
• 2004: Rockford J. Ross
• 2002: Alan Selman
• 2001: Michael Langston
• 2000: S. Rao Kosaraju
• 1999: Fred S. Roberts
• 1998: Ian Parberry
• 1997: David S. Johnson