Edgar F. Codd
Each year, the group gives out several awards to contributions to the field of data management. The most important of these is the SIGMOD Edgar F. Codd Innovations Award (named after the computer scientist Edgar F. Codd), which is awarded to "innovative and highly significant contributions of enduring value to the development, understanding, or use of database systems and databases". Additionally, SIGMOD presents a Best Paper Award to recognize the highest quality paper at each conference, and Jim Gray Dissertation Award to the best Ph.D thesis in data management.