In commemoration of the 5th PIAC Conference, Indiana University offered to establish a prize for Altaic Studies, consisting of a medal, to be awarded annually by the PIAC. The following Constitution governing the award of this prize was unanimously adopted:
“The Prize consisting of a medal will be awarded annually by the PIAC to a Scholar who in their opinion has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Altaic Studies. The prize will not be awarded twice to the same scholar. At each meeting a committee of four, if possible previous holders of the medal, will be elected by those eligible to vote, whose duty it will be to submit to the next meeting at least two and not more than four names of scholars deemed worthy to receive the medal. At that next meeting the electors will choose the prizeman for that year by secret bailot from among the scholars nominated.”
“Those persons eligible to take part in the election will be all bona fide scholars in the Altaic field who have been present at a previous meeting of the PIAC and are present when the election is held. ”
“If two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes, that number being greater than the number of votes received by any other candidate, a second bailot will be held in which the only candidates will be those who in the first ballot received the greatest number of votes. ”
“These regulations may be amended at any subsequent meeting of the PIAC by a majority vote of those qualified to take part in the election.”
Sir Gerard Clauson, Professors W. Heissig, D. Sinor, and A. Zajączkowski were elected to serve as members of the first nominating committee for the Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies.
1963 Antoine Mostaert (U.S.A.)
1964 Erich Haenisch (Federal Republic of Germany)
1965 Rinchen (Mongolian People’s Republic)
1966 Gyula Németh (Hungary)
1967 Martti Räsänen (Finland)
1968 Louis Ligeti (Hungary)
1969 Sir Gerard Clauson (United Kingdom)
1970 N.N. Poppe (U.S.A.)
1971 Annemarie von Gabain (Federal Republic of Germany)
1972 V. I. Cincius (U.S.S.R.)
1973 Walter Fuchs (Federal Republic of Germany)
1974 Owen Lattimore (U.S.A.)
1975 Karl Jahn (Holland)
1976 A. N. Kononov (U.S.S.R.)
1977 Gunnar Jarring (Sweden)
1978 Not awarded
1979 John Andrew Boyle (United Kingdom) (Posthumous award)
1980 N.A. Baskakov (U.S.S.R.)
1981 Not awarded
1982 Walther Heissig (Federal Republic of Germany)
Denis Sinor (U.S.A.)
(Professors Heissig and Sinor were each awarded the Medal in honor of the PIAC’s 25th Anniversary)
1983 Shiro Hattori (Japan)
1984 Karl H. Menges (U.S.A.)
1985 Aulis J. Joki (Finland)
1986 Károly Czeglédy (Hungary)
1987 Pentti Aalto (Finland)
1988 Francis Woodman Cleaves (U.S.A.)
1989 Johannes Benzing (Federal Republic of Germany)
1990 Omeljan Pritsak (U.S.A.)
1991 Edmond Schütz (Hungary)
1992 A.M. Shcherbak (Russian Federation)
1993 Not awarded
1994 James Hamilton (France)
1995 Jean Richard (France)
1996 L. P. Potapov (Russian Federation),
Denis Sinor (U.S.A)
1997 Gerhard Doerfer (Germany)
1998 Edward Tryjarski (Poland)
1999 Hidehiro Okada (Japan)
2000 Geng Shimin (People’s Republic of China)
2001 András Róna-Tas (Hungary)
2002 Ikegami Jirō (Japan)
2003 Zeynep Korkmaz (Turkey)
2004 Igor de Rachewiltz (Australia)
2005 Sergei G. Kljashtornij (Russian Federation)
2006 Giovanni Stary (Italy)
2007 Mirkasym Usmanov (Tatarstan, Russian Federation)
2008 Klaus Sagaster (Germany)
2009 Peter Zieme (Germany)
2010 Seong Baegin (Republic of Korea)
2011 György Kara (U.S.A./Hungary)
2012 Charles R. Bawden (U.K.)
2013 Hartmut Walravens (Germany)
2014 Dalantai Tserensodnom (Mongolia)
The medal awarded to Dalantai Tserensodnom was the last medal prepared by Indiana University, hence no prize could be awarded between 2015 and 2017. In 2018, a new medal was created which is now supported and funded by the PIAC members: The PIAC Prize For Altaic Studies.