The Warner Prize is normally awarded annually for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy during the five years preceding the award. It is given to an astronomer who has not attained 36 years of age in the year designated for the award or must be within eight years of receipt of their Ph.D. degree. The recipient shall be a resident of North America (including Hawaii and Puerto Rico) or a member of a North American institution, stationed abroad.

The prize shall be a cash award of an amount established by the Council. The prize recipient shall be invited to present a paper on the subject for which the prize was granted at a meeting designated by the Council.

No individual candidate is eligible for both the Warner and Pierce Prizes.

*Note for Pierce and Warner Prizes: A nomination package will now consist of a CV, a publication list, and three letters of support. Self-nominations are now allowed (until 2016). The committee will be blind regarding self-nominations versus outside-nominations. Also, because of the age and length of career restrictions, nominees/applicants must provide birthdate and month/year of earned PhD.

Year Recipient
2013 Mark Krumholz
2012 Eric B. Ford
2011 Steven R. Furlanetto
2010 Scott Ransom
2009 Scott Gaudi
2008 Eliot Quataert
2007 Sara Seager
2006 Reem Sari
2005 Christopher Reynolds
2004 William Holzapfel
2003 Matias Zaldarriaga
2002 Adam Riess
2001 Uros Seljak
2000 Wayne Hu
1999 Lars Bildsten
1998 Marc Kamionkowski
1997 Charles C. Steidel
1996 Fred C. Adams
1995 E. Sterl Phinney
1994 David N. Spergel
1993 John F. Hawley
1992 Edmund Bertschinger
1991 Shrinivas Kulkarni
1990 Ethan T. Vishniac
1989 Nicholas Kaiser
1988 Mitchell C. Begelman
1987 Jack Wisdom
1986 Simon D. M. White
1985 Lennox L. Cowie
1984 Michael S. Turner
1983 Scott D. Tremaine
1982 Roger D. Blandford
1981 William H. Press
1980 Paul C. Joss
1979 Arthur Davidsen
1978 David N. Schramm
1977 Frank H. Shu
1976 Stephen E. Strom
1975 Patrick Palmer, Ben Zuckerman
1974 Dimitri Mihalas
1973 George R. Carruthers
1972 Jeremiah P. Ostriker
1971 Kenneth Kellermann
1970 John N. Bahcall
1969 Wallace L. W. Sargent
1968 Frank J. Low
1967 Pierre Demarque
1966 Riccardo Giacconi
1965 George W. Preston
1964 Maarten Schmidt
1963 Bernard F. Burke
1962 Robert Kraft
1961 Joseph W. Chamberlain
1960 Halton C. Arp
1959 E. Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge
1958 Merle F. Walker
1957 Allan R. Sandage
1956 Harold Johnson
1955 George H. Herbig
1954 Aden B. Meinel