CSTA/ACM Cutler-Bell Prize

The ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing is designed to recognize talented high school students intending to continue their higher education in the areas of computer science or technology. The program seeks to promote and encourage the field of computer science and empower young and aspiring learners to pursue computing challenges outside of the traditional classroom environment.
The ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing is designed to recognize talented high school students intending to continue their higher education in the areas of computer science or technology. The program seeks to promote and encourage the field of computer science and empower young and aspiring learners to pursue computing challenges outside of the traditional classroom environment.
 

The Award

Up to four winners will be selected annually and will receive:

  • a $10,000 scholarship (administered through the financial aid department at the university the student will attend)
  • an expense-paid trip to the CSTA Annual Conference in July (to receive the award)
  • recognition on CSTA and ACM's websites

Eligibility Requirements

To apply for the Cutler-Bell prize, you must:

  • Live in the United States
  • Be a graduating high school senior at an accredited school
  • Plan to continue studying computer science
  • Create an original computational artifact (e.g., program)

Application & Review

Students must develop an original computational artifact that engages modern computing technology and computer science. See previous winners to learn about the types of projects selected.
 
The application includes:
  • Description of your project and development (two essays of <1,000 words each)
  • Project source code and executable file
  • Short video showing and describing the project (2-5 minutes)
  • Consent form (under 18, over 18)
A group of educators will review all submissions and judge the project's ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, originality, and the student's desire to further computer science as a discipline.
 

Applications for 2020-21: Closed 

All applicants for the 2020-21 prize have been notified of their application status. Applications for the 2021-22 prize will open in September 2021. 

Past CSTA/ACM Cutler-Bell Prize Winners

2020–21 

Sahithi Ankireddy
Maurice Korish
Brian Minnick
Emily Yuan

Read about the winners. 

2019–2020

Kevin Meng 
Lillian Kay Petersen
Axel S. Toro Vega
Zeyu Zhao
Raghav Ganeth, Honorable Mention

Read about the winners.
2018–2019
Naveen Durvasula
Isha Puri
Eshika Saxena
Varun Shenoy
 
2016–2017
Elizabeth Hu
Avi Schwartz
Aaron Walter
2017–2018
Sreya Guha
Amir Helmy
Amy Jin
Benjamin Spector & Michael Truell
 
2015–2016

Cheery Zou
Valerie Chen
Matthew Edwards
Karthik Rao
Zack Baker, Honorable Mention
Maya Varma, Honorable Mention  

Sponsorship

The prize is made available through a $1 million endowment established by David Cutler and Gordon Bell. Dr. Cutler is a software engineer, designer and developer of several operating systems including Windows NT at Microsoft and RSX-11M, VMS and VAXELN at Digital Equipment Corporation. He is Senior Technical Fellow at Microsoft. Dr. Bell is an electrical engineer and an early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation where he led the development of VAX. He is now a researcher emeritus at Microsoft Research.