JFM are delighted to announce a new prize, designed to recognise the contribution to the fluid mechanics community of those starting their research career. Each year the prize will be awarded to the best paper published in JFM with a first author who received their PhD within two years of the paper being published, thus recognising an author’s first or early research output. We will also award a number of runner-up prizes. The winning paper, together with the runner-up papers, will showcase the excellent research being undertaken by PhD students and early post-doctoral researchers in fluid mechanics.

The first author of the winning paper will receive £500 and have a Focus on Fluids commissioned on their Paper. The first author of runner-up papers will receive a £100 CUP Book Voucher.

The first best paper prize will recognise an Emerging Scholar who published work in 2023 and the winner will be announced later this year. We are in the process of contacting authors of papers published in 2023 asking them to confirm if the paper is eligible for consideration. Please contact us on jfmprize@cambridge.org to self-nominate your paper by 15th May 2024.

Eligibility and selection criteria and procedure:

• Papers eligible for consideration are published in the calendar year N, and have a first author who received their PhD at the earliest in the calendar year N-2
• For example, papers published in 2023 will be eligible if the first author received their PhD no earlier than 2021.
• If a paper has two equally contributing eligible authors (e.g. joint first authors), the prize can be shared. 
• Eligible papers will identified by self-nomination from any of the co-authors. All co-authors of JFM Publications will be emailed each year with details of how to nominate and with a nomination deadline. However, papers can be nominated at any point prior to this date by contacting jfmprize@cambridge.org 
• The Best paper will be selected based on:
• The quality of the research and the clarity of the writing.
• The timeliness and impact of the findings.
• Selection will be made by a sub-committee of the JFM Editorial Board Chaired by the EiC

The JFM Editorial Board recognise that a first JFM paper is an important milestone and EiC Colm-cille Caulfield and Deputy Editor Charles Meneveau have shared their memories of their first JFM paper. We’d love to hear your stories of your first JFM paper on twitter (X) @JFluidMech with the hashtag #MyFirstJFM.

Journal of Fluid Mechanics is the leading international journal in the field and is essential reading for all those concerned with developments in fluid mechanics. It publishes authoritative articles covering theoretical, computational and experimental investigations of all aspects of the mechanics of fluids. Each issue contains papers on the fundamental aspects of fluid mechanics and its applications to other fields such as aeronautics, astrophysics, biology, chemical and mechanical engineering, hydraulics, materials, meteorology, oceanography, geology, acoustics and combustion.

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