Each year the Trustees select three judges who will choose the Award recipients for that year. To keep the process independent, the identity of the judges remains confidential except to the Trustees and the other judges. A judge may be a practicing psychiatrist or psychoanalyst, a member of the academic community, or any other qualified person in the region of that year's Award. The Trust recognizes up to five individuals and/or organizations each year. The Trustees solicit nominations for the Award from the psychoanalytic community, including the presidents of psychoanalytic societies and institutes, the editors of psychoanalytic journals, and the heads of departments of psychiatry at medical schools located in the region of the Award. The Trustees submit the nominations to the judges. Each judge, working independently, then submits to the Trustees a selection of candidates stating the judge's order of preference and reasons. If the judges are not unanimous, the judges and Trustees then confer to achieve consensus. Upon achieving unanimity among the judges, the Trustees notify the recipients of the judges' decision and invite them to a ceremony in their honor. All Content Copyright © 2003 Mary S. Sigourney Award Trust. All Rights Reserved.