George Pólya Prize

The George Pólya Prize is a prize in mathematics, awarded by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. First given in 1969, the prize is named after Hungarian mathematician George Pólya. It is now awarded in evenly numbered years. Starting in 1969 the prize money was provided by Frank Harary, who donated the profits from his Graph Theory book. At some point SIAM took it over. The first SIAM selection committee is listed as 2002.

The prize is given every two years, alternately in two categories: (1) for a notable application of combinatorial theory; (2) for a notable contribution in another area of interest to George Pólya such as approximation theory, complex analysis, number theory, orthogonal polynomials, probability theory, or mathematical discovery and learning.

The prize is broadly intended to recognize specific recent work. Prize committees may occasionally consider an award for cumulative work, but such awards should be rare.