The Nobel Prize of Psychoanalysis

The Mary S. Sigourney Award Trust was created in 1990 by the will of Mary Sigourney. She lived in Carmel, Calif., and was a patron of psychoanalytic endeavors in a variety of ways. Her bequest left a substantial sum of money to the care of two trustees, stipulated as one member of the legal profession and one psychoanalyst. The proceeds of the trust were to be used for awards for outstanding accomplishment in and contributions to psychoanalysis. In this way Sigourney created what has often been referred to as “the Nobel Prize of psychoanalysis,” bestowing honor and a significant monetary award upon the recipients. There is nothing else like this in our field.

The document that created the trust included a carefully constructed system by which the awards were to be made. The psychoanalytic world was divided into three regions: the United States, western Europe, and “the rest of the world”—Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and eastern Europe. The award rotates through the regions on a three-year cycle.

The original trustees were James Devine, Sigourney's legal counsel, and Bernard Pacella, by virtue of his holding the office of APsaA treasurer at the time. After some years a dispute arose concerning the right of appointment of the successor trustee on the analyst side that required legal action. This issue was settled in December 2001. The analytic trustee was now to be appointed by APsaA's Executive Council for a term to be determined by Council, which appointed Allan Compton as trustee in December 2001 for a term of eighteen months.

Except for the right of the APsaA Council to appoint the analyst trustee, the Sigourney Trust is an entirely independent entity with no connection to the APsaA, the IPA, or any other psychoanalytic organization. It operates under the trust law of the State of California according to the trust document created by Mary Sigourney.

How Honorees are Chosen

Awardees can be either individuals or institutions; the Trust document gives broad leeway for choosing “outstanding” work. The system of selecting the recipients of the prize has several steps. The trustees solicit nominations from the stipulated region, by whatever system they devise, and also accept unsolicited nominations from anyone who chooses to submit a name for the prize. The trustees assemble a panel of judges, who remain anonymous. After the trustees screen the material submitted, they distribute all documents in regard to each nominee to all the judges. The judges' decision must be unanimous.

The awards have been presented at an award dinner, usually held in conjunction with the Winter Meeting of the APsaA.

There have been sixty-five individual and organizational winners to date (see page 28).

The prestige of the Sigourney Award has been growing gradually through its thirteen years. Its trustees are exploring ways to increase awareness of the award within and outside the psychoanalytic community. A trust Web site is in the early stages of construction. The trustees hope this will help to make information concerning the award more readily available worldwide and will facilitate communication between the trustees and the psychoanalytic community.

Nominations of individuals and institutions deserving of recognition for distinguished contributions to the field of psychoanalysis may be sent to the Mary S. Sigourney Trust, P.O. Box 10206, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.