The Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, recognize and advance top Texas innovators and researchers whose work could have significant impact on science and society. The prizes propel high-risk, high-reward ideas and innovations that demonstrate significant potential for real-world impact and can lead to new, paradigm-shifting paths in research.

The Hill Prizes have seven categories: artificial intelligence, medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology. The Hill Prize in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be given to researchers and teams in academia, government, medicine and the private sector. (Applications for the 2026 Hill Prizes in the categories of medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology closed on May 31, 2025.)

Each prize recipient’s institution or organization will receive $500,000 in direct funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to accelerate their work. Prize recipients will be announced in January 2026 and recognized on February 2, 2026, at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

For more information regarding eligibility guidelines and application components, please visit: https://tamest.org/hill-prizes/