Ten years after the first CP conference, the CP research area is certainly mature enough to begin to identify and honour the most influential people in the field. This is why the Executive Committee of the Association for Constraint Programming has decided to establish an annual "ACP award for Research Excellence in constraint programming", whose purpose is to celebrate those CP researchers who have made exceptional and very influential research contributions to CP with their work.
The recipient of this award are as follows:
| Year | Recipient | Nominated by |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | John Hooker | Pascal Van Hentenryck and Willem-Jan van Hoeve |
| 2019 | Peter James Stuckey | Christian Schulte |
| 2017 | Nicolas Beldiceanu | Mats Carlsson, Pierre Flener, Pascal Van Hentenryck |
| 2015 | Toby Walsh | Christian Bessiere |
| 2013 | Jean-Charles Regin | Michel Rueher, Laurent Perron, Pierre Schaus |
| 2011 | Patrick Prosser | Ian Gent, Barbara Smith, Toby Walsh |
| 2009 | Alan Mackworth | Eugene C. Freuder |
| 2008 | Alain Colmerauer | Frederic Benhamou |
| 2007 | Rina Dechter | Javier Larrosa |
| 2006 | Pascal Van Hentenryck | Laurent Michel |
| 2005 | Eugene C. Freuder | ACP EC |