It is presented annually at the Society's April meeting and honors "outstanding achievement in particle theory".
[1] The award was established in November 1984 with an endowment fund provided by the family and friends of physicist Jun John Sakurai,[2] who had died in October 1982 during a visit to CERN.
[3] Currently, the prize consists of a US$10,000 cash award, an allowance for the recipient to travel to the ceremony, and a certificate citing their contributions.
[4] The Sakurai Prize is administered by the Society's Division of Particles and Fields,[5] and winners are chosen by a selection committee.
[1] The inaugural recipients, Toshihide Maskawa and Makoto Kobayashi, were awarded the prize in 1985 for their work on the electroweak interaction.