Some remarkable people have made extraordinary contributions to SIGGRAPH and more generally to the field of computer graphics and interactive techniques.  The SIGGRAPH Awards Program was designed to recognize such individuals who have made one of two kinds of contributions: those who have changed the field through their service contributions, and those who have had a deeply influential creative achievements. The Outstanding Service award is given in even numbered years and as
such was not presented in 2007.

Three achievement awards are given by SIGGRAPH that reflect both different levels and longevity of achievement.  The New Researcher Award is intended to recognize early career achievement, the Computer Graphics Achievement Award recognizes one or more demonstrably long-lasting achievements that have changed the field, and the most prestigious Coon's Award, offered in odd-numbered years, recognizes superior life-long contributions.

Choosing from among many highly deserving candidates for these awards is exceptionally difficult, and is undertaken by an anonymous committee that has a deep knowledge of the field.  Through the winter months, this committee meets weekly to converge slowly, sometimes painfully, to a difficult set of decisions.  Year after year, the winners are always remarkably strong individually, and are also wonderful representatives for the field at large.

This year, the committee determined that the New Researcher Award should go to Ravi Ramamoorthi for his groundbreaking work on the mathematical and computational representation of visual appearance; the Computer Graphics Achievement Award went to Greg Ward for his contributions to rendering and particularly his development of the Radiance Synthetic Imaging System; the Coon's Award went to Nelson Max for his pioneering work in scientific visualization and his deep technical contributions in the modeling of natural phenomena.  The
winners of these awards receive a plaque and honorarium.  The Coon's Award winner also receives a sculpture especially decision for this Award by Helaman Ferguson.

The achievements of these individuals was celebrated during the opening ceremonies of SIGGRAPH 2007.  A video reel surveying their accomplishments was created and shown at this event.  We are very proud of Ravi, Greg and Nelson.