Kalman Prize

The Kalman Prize for Best Paper was instituted in 2016 to recognise excellence in research carried out by New Zealand mathematicians. The Prize will normally be awarded annually for an outstanding and innovative piece of research in the mathematical sciences published by a member or members of the NZMS. The Prize is for a single publication of original research, which may be an article, monograph or book, having appeared within the last 5 calendar years: 2020-2025. The value of the Prize is $5000. The Prize is generously funded by the Margaret and John Kalman Charitable Trust, and recognises the significant contributions to mathematics in New Zealand made by Professor John Kalman.

Eligibility. A publication may be nominated for the Prize by any member of the NZMS who is not an author of that publication. To be eligible, the nominated publication must have at least one author who:

In the case of publications with multiple eligible authors, the Prize will be shared by all eligible authors. The existence of authors who do not meet the conditions in i) and ii) above will not preclude the award, although the judging panel may take into account whether the NZ author has made a major contribution to the published work. The judging panel may deem a publication ineligible if an author has previously received an award from the NZMS for a body of research that included the nominated publication.

Nominations should include the following:

• a brief summary from the nominator(s) of 1-2 pages of what makes the nominated publication important, innovative and outstanding (with appropriate references to prior or subsequent work in the field) as well as a confirmation that the author satisfies the eligibility requirements;
• an electronic copy (pdf) of the publication;
• the names of six possible assessors. The judging panel may approach assessors other than those nominated. Assessors must not have a conflict of interest (see below) and they should be able to give scientific insight into the work to be assessed. It may be easier to avoid a conflict of interest by choosing international assessors.

Unsuccessful applicants from 2024 (whose publication remains within the eligibility period) will be invited to update their application so that it can be reconsidered in 2025.

Nominations should be sent by email to the NZMS President,   Bernd Krauskopf  by 31 August 2025. Submissions should state clearly that they are for the Kalman Prize for Best Paper.

A judging panel will be appointed by the NZMS President, and makes recommendations to the President for the Prize. We note that the prize should be awarded solely on the merit of the publication, not on career achievements of the author or authors. The winner(s) of the prize will be announced at the New Zealand Mathematics Colloquium Dinner in December.

The Kalman Prize for Best Paper in 2024 was awarded to Rod Downey (Victoria University) for the book `A Hierarchy of Turing Degrees’ (Annals of Mathematics Series), written jointly with Noam Greenberg (Victoria University).