Practitioner Award
The SIGGRAPH Practitioner Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the practice and advancement of Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. The award recognizes the very best and most influential applications and practitioners. The award includes a $2,000 cash prize.
Current Recipients
Brian Karis
For his work in the area of real-time computer graphics, including his contributions to Physically-Based Rendering, Temporal Anti-Aliasing, and Nanite.
ACM SIGGRAPH is pleased to recognize Brian Karis with the 2025 Practitioner Award. The Practitioner Award is given annually to practitioners who have had an impact on computer graphics and interactive techniques.
For more than a decade, Brian has been a driving force in advancing real-time rendering technology. As a key innovator, Brian revolutionized the handling of high-detail assets with the creation of Nanite in Unreal Engine, enabling the rendering of massive geometric complexity without traditional level-of-detail systems. Brian was also instrumental in refining Epic Games’s physically-based shading model, which has become a standard in Unreal Engine and influenced the broader game industry. Additionally, his advancements in temporal anti-aliasing have significantly improved image stability and quality in modern game engines.
Brian also actively shares his insights with the community through SIGGRAPH presentations and public talks, influencing rendering techniques in other engines and research in real-time graphics. His dedication to bridging the gap between research and practical solutions has made him a key figure in the field.
For his work on Physically-Based Rendering, Temporal Anti-Aliasing, and Nanite, ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to give the 2025 Practitioner Award to Brian Karis.
Previous Recipients
- 2024 F. Sebastian Grassia
- 2023 Ken Museth
- 2022 Íñigo Quílez
- 2022 Pol Jeremias
- 2021 Brent Burley
- 2020 Elizabeth Baron
- 2019 Stephen Hill
- 2018 Bill Reeves
Criteria
- Impact to Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques based on practical application in methods, products, services or systems.
- Cumulative, demonstrable contributions to the field directly and through leadership of others
- Innovation and the stimulation of innovation through practice
- Influence on the work of others, and acceptance of practice by the ACM SIGGRAPH community
Nomination Procedure
The Practitioner Award Committee evaluates nominations based on the outlined criteria. ACM SIGGRAPH members are encouraged to submit their nominations to the Practitioner Award Chair by January 31.
Requirements
- Contact information of the candidate
- Contact information of the nominator
- A brief summary (English, maximum one page) explaining how the candidate meets the criteria of the award
- Contact information of at least two people knowledgeable about the qualifications of the candidate and who are willing to submit letters in support of the nomination upon request