[1] It is presented biennially in recognition of an outstanding contribution to mathematics research by a woman in the previous six years.
[5] The prize is awarded at the Joint Mathematics Meetings during odd numbered years, and has always carried a modest cash reward.
[7] The 2013 prize winner was Maryam Mirzakhani, who, the following year, became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal, which is considered to be the highest honor a mathematician can receive.
[11][12] She won both awards for her work on "the geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces".
[13] The most recent winner is Ana Caraiani, who was awarded the prize in 2025 "for contributions to arithmetic geometry and number theory: in particular, the Langlands program.".