Big sigh. I'm blue. Last year I created a packet to nominate a woman for the ACM A.M. Turing Award. The Turing award is ACM's most prestigious technical award and is accompanied by a prize of $25,000. It is given to an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field.

Between 1966 and 2000 (the years of the award, to date), no woman has ever won the award. This is plain stupid. The woman I nominated in the packet is very deserving of this award. Well, the award went to a man and I planned to improve the packet and re-submit it this year. So I did some research and sent out some faxes requesting support letters from some key people in the field who are credible supporters. During one of these contacts, I learned that another packet was being created at the company this nominee works at. The nominee and I finally got in touch over the phone, and I emailed my packet up to her so she can forward it to the company.

I feel disappointed that I won't receive any credit for all my effort, should she win. She thanked me several times on the phone, so I guess I'll just have to learn to be content with that. Yes, the major point is that she should win. But I wanted the glow from being part of the pedestal that elevated her.