The Gordon Myers Amateur Achievement Award, known until 2018 as the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, is one of nine annual astronomical awards managed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. It recognizes "significant contributions to astronomy or amateur astronomy by those not employed in the field of astronomy in a professional capacity." The contributions can be done in the fields of both observational astronomy or astronomical technologies. The award has been given to amateur astronomers from various countries since 1979 and has become one of the most geographically diverse astronomical awards.
Award winners receive a commemorative plaque, which is presented at the Annual Meeting Awards Banquet. The monetary value of the award is US$500. Candidates can be nominated by any member of the astronomical community (with the exception of the nominees themselves and their families) and the nominations should be accompanied by other letters of support. All the nominations have to be delivered to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific by December 15 of the nominating year and remain valid for three years. The winners are selected by the Awards Committee appointed by the Board of Directors. The committee have the right not to award any of the nominees if they do not consider their achievements exceptional enough, which has already happened several times.
Winners
Recipients of the award have been:
Year Name Nationality Field Notes 1979 Occultations 1980 Variable stars 1981 Novae/Comets 1982 Problicom 1983 Asteroids 1984 Photoelectric photometry 1985 & Robert Evans Supernovae|} 1986 Computational astronomy 1987 Variable stars 1988 Astrophotography 1989 Double stars 1990 Meteorites 1991 Asteroid orbits 1992 &Helen Lines Photoelectric photometry of variable stars 1993 / Comets 1994 ALPO founder 1995 Planetary imaging 1996 Variable stars 1997 Variable stars/occultations 1998 Variable stars/comets 1999 Trans-Neptunian objects 2000 Deep-sky imaging/Comet Hyakutake 2001 Computing comet orbits 2002 No award 2003 Near-Earth asteroids 2004 Imaging and image processing 2005 Light pollution 2006 Visual and CCD observations of variable stars/comets 2007 R Coronae Borealis stars/variable star monitoring 2008 CCD imaging 2009 Developing CCD instrumentation and a worldwide sky survey program 2010 Adapted Canadian Meteorological Centre forecast products for the purpose of planning observing sessions with highly accurate high resolution point forecasts of cloud cover, transparency, seeing, darkness, wind, temperature and humidity over North and Central America 2011 Advancing the fields of extra-solar planet research and stellar astrophysics 2012 Photoelectric photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy 2013 No award 2014 Instrumental in helping redefine the Z Cam sub-type of dwarf novae, and discovered the recurrent nova V745 Sco in outburst in the morning sky, triggering an AAVSO Alert Notice and significant attention from the astronomical community 2015 No award 2016 No award 2017 Supernovae/Comets 2018 Exoplanets 2019 No award 2020 No award 2021 No award2022 Solar eclypses, divulgation, occultations Past recipients
See also Other Astronomical Society of the Pacific awards: Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal Klumpke-Roberts Award Robert J. Trumpler Award Other amateur astronomy awards: Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award List of astronomy awards
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