The Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, recognize and advance top Texas innovators and researchers whose work could have significant impact on science and society. The prizes propel high-risk, high-reward ideas and innovations that demonstrate very significant potential for real-world impact and can lead to new, paradigm-shifting paths in research.
The Hill Prizes have six categories: medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology. The medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences and physical sciences prizes will be given to researchers and teams at academic and medical institutions. The Hill Prize in Technology will be given to individuals and teams in the private sector and government in applied sciences and engineering.
After an incredibly successful first year of the prizes, Lyda Hill Philanthropies has committed over $10 million in funding to continue the prize program for the next three years. The $10 million will include the addition of a new prize in the category of public health, resulting in six prizes per year of $500,000 each. In addition, at least $1 million in discretionary research funding will be allocated by Lyda Hill Philanthropies on an ad hoc basis to highly ranked applicants and finalists not selected as recipients.
Each prize recipient’s institution or organization will receive $500,000 in direct funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to accelerate their work. Prize recipients will be announced in January 2026 and recognized on February 4, 2026, at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas.