The Jim Tiedje Award
The “Jim Tiedje Award” is presented by ISME to an exalted microbial ecologist who is recognized for their Outstanding Lifetime contribution to the field of microbial ecology. Past winners of this award include Farooq Azam (2004), Gijs Kuenen (2006), Norman Pace (2008), Bo Barker Jørgensen (2010), Stephen Giovannoni (2012), Nancy Moran (2014), Sallie Chisholm (2016) and Michael Wagner (2018). An expert panel of individuals have already selected the awardee for 2020; Kenneth Nealson, University of Southern California, United States, will be presented with the prestigious award in Cape Town. 

The ISME Young Investigators Award
The “ISME Young Investigator Award” recognizes early career microbial ecologists who have made significant contributions to this field. An expert panel comprising individuals selected by the ISME Executive are the judges of this biennial award. Past winners of this award include Ian Head (2004), Phil Hugenholtz (2006), Forest Rohwer (2008), Marc Strous (2010), Victoria Orphan (2012), Ruth Ley (2014), Gene Tyson (2016) and Catherine Lozupone in 2018. The recipient of the 2020 award is Kelly Wrighton, Colorado State University, United States, and she will be presented the award during her keynote presentation.

The ISME Student Poster Award
The “ISME Student Poster Award” is reserved for students or postdocs who are the first and presenting author on a submitted poster presentation (proof of (postgraduate) studentship will be required). During ISME18, three outstanding posters will be chosen each day (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday). Awardees will receive free membership of ISME for 2021. Winning posters will be displayed in a prominent location on Friday 14 August 2020. Awards will be presented at the closing ceremony of ISME18.

The David C. White Award
David C. White’s vision was to honor and respect the power of quantitative analytical chemistry to microbial ecology. Thus, the “D.C. White Award” will be presented to the most innovative poster at the ISME18 conference. The announcement of the “D.C. White award” will be made at the closing ceremony of the ISME18 symposium.

The Bill Costerton Young Scientist Prize
The Bill Costerton Young Scientist Prize will recognize early career scientists who demonstrate the most promising research involving new theories in microbial ecology that have wider inter-disciplinary significance. The recipient of the award will be selected from the 9 poster winners and awarded the prize during the closing ceremony of the symposium. 

The Tom Brock Awards
The Tom Brock Awards acknowledge the accomplishments and promise of outstanding postdoctoral research associates on the basis of the presentations that they make at the ISME Symposium.  The criteria will include scientific accomplishments and innovation as well as clarity of presentation at ISME18.  Initial selection criteria will be on the basis of submitted abstracts that will be chosen for oral presentations by the organizers.  Final evaluation will be made at the meeting, by evaluating the oral presentations of the candidates.

The ISME/IWA Bio Cluster Award
In order to recognize the importance of interdisciplinary research at the interface of microbial ecology and water/wastewater treatment, the ISME/IWA Bio Cluster Award was created. This prestigious prize rewards interdisciplinary research of unusual merit in this field.
Nominations for this award will be welcomed soon.

ISME Travel Awards
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The ISME18 African Scientists Travel Award
Please read more here