ACM SIGMICRO

MICRO Test of Time Award: Call for Nominations

chip layout (photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash)

2025 Call for Nominations (Deadline: June 27, 2025)

The MICRO Test of Time (ToT) Award Committee is soliciting nominations for the twelfth MICRO ToT Award, in conjunction with the International Symposium on Microarchitecture being held in October 2025. This award recognizes the most influential papers published in past MICRO conferences that have had significant impact in the field.

The award will recognize an influential MICRO paper whose influence is still felt 18–22 years after its initial publication. In other words, the award will be given to one or more papers published at MICRO conferences in any of the years N-22, N-21, N-20, N-19, or N-18. This year, N = 2025, so only papers published at MICRO conferences held in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007 are eligible. An eligible paper that has received at least 100 citations (according to Google Scholar) is automatically nominated, but explicit nominations of such papers are still encouraged.

At a Glance

Deadline: June 27, 2025

Eligible Conferences: 2003–2007

Nomination: By email

We invite anyone to submit a nomination by the deadline of June 27, 2025. Please submit your nomination via email to micro-tot-award-nominations@googlegroups.com. The following describes the nomination criteria, how to submit a nomination, and the selection process.

Which papers are eligible for the 2025 MICRO ToT (Test of Time) Award?
Only papers published at MICRO conferences that happened between 2003–2007 (2003 and 2007 inclusive). The list of eligible papers is available online.

Who can nominate a paper?
Anyone can nominate a paper except for the author or co-author of the nominated paper.

Is there a limit on the number of papers one person can nominate?
Yes. One can nominate up to 5 papers from all eligible papers. These five papers can be published in any eligible year.

When is the last day to submit a nomination?
Nominations must be received by June 27, 2025.

How should a nomination be submitted?
Nominations must be submitted via email to micro-tot-award-nominations@googlegroups.com.

What should be included in the nomination email?

  1. The title, the author list, and publication year of the nominated paper
  2. A 100-word (maximum) nomination statement, describing why the paper deserves the Test of Time Award
  3. The name, title, affiliation of the nominator, and if appropriate, the relationship of the nominator to the authors
Only one paper can be nominated in a single email.

What is the selection process?
The MICRO ToT Award committee will evaluate all submitted nominations after June 28, 2025 to select the winning paper(s) for the 2025 MICRO ToT (Test of Time) Award. A strict conflict of interest policy will be followed. If a ToT Award Committee Member has a conflict of interest with a paper that is nominated, the member will recuse himself/herself from the discussion process and a substitute will be placed in.

Who are the current MICRO ToT Award committee members?

What does the award consist of?
An award certificate and peer recognition. The authors of the selected paper are expected to be invited to write a retrospective of the paper in the IEEE Micro magazine.

What papers were previous winners of the award?
A list of all previous winners of the MICRO ToT Award is available online.