Starting in 2009, we have a new "Best Paper" selection process. A best-paper committee will be formed consisting of the three paper chairs and two additional senior researchers as chosen by the IEEE Vis Steering Committee.

Reviewers will be queried on the review form with a question "Should we consider this paper for the best papers award? (yes/no/maybe)". Further, the primary reviewer of each accepted paper will score the quality of the final version of the paper (after the second review) for consideration for the best papers award. The score will be on a numerical scale.

Based on these scores and the initial scores from all the reviewers, the papers chairs will nominate 5-6 papers for the award of which the best papers committee will select a winner. The main criteria of the evaluation is the potential impact on the field. Other criteria include novelty, technical soundness, and clarity of the writing.

The best paper committee and the nomination and awards procedure will be published in the proceedings. The winner of the award will be highlighted in the proceedings and our webpages and will be announced in a special session at the conference. In order to allow objectivity, the best paper committee's submissions will not be considered for the award.