The prize is awarded by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. to an individual in a selected area of chemistry "to recognize exceptional and original research that has advanced the field in a major way."

[citation needed] The annually presented awards consist of a monetary prize of $75,000, which was increased to $100,000 starting in 2019.

[12][13] Seven winners of the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, including Paul L. Modrich, Richard R. Schrock, Robert H. Grubbs, K. Barry Sharpless, Ahmed H. Zewail, Mario J. Molina and Yuan Tseh Lee.

[15] The Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Awards are awards "for innovative projects in any area of Machine Learning (ML) consistent with the Foundation’s broad objective to advance the chemical sciences and engineering.

The Jean Dreyfus Lectureship awards "bring a leading researcher to a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) to give at least two lectures in the chemical sciences.