OGD Best Paper Award

The deadline for nominations has been extended until 31 May

The Best Paper Award of the Organic Geochemistry Division was recently restructured, with the intent to encourage the broader organic geochemistry community to play a more active and direct role in the nomination process. Accordingly, all members of the organic geochemical community are invited to submit nominations, which will be evaluated and ranked by a committee. In addition, to better ensure that the award is made to outstanding publications that have had greater opportunity to be recognized, the annual award will be given to papers that were published during the calendar year two years prior to their consideration.

Nominations for the next OGD Best Paper Award, for publications that appeared in 2016 and 2017, will be accepted until May 31st, 2019 and the result will be announced in August at the Goldschmidt Meeting in Barcelona or in September during IMOG in Gothenburg. Since some journals allow early online publication (e.g., assigning a doi, but not a volume), only articles published including a journal volume assignment within the 2016-2017 period will be considered.

Nomination packages should include:

  • Cover sheet with contact information
  • Full citation of the publication nominated: DOI (required) with authorship, title, journal
  • Brief description (500 words maximum) of the significance of the paper and why it merits the award
  • A pdf copy of the publication nominated

Nominations will not be considered from individuals deemed to have conflicts of interest, which includes the following: co-authors of the paper plus their students/advisors, and anyone who has collaborated or co-authored with any of the authors of the nominated publication during a period of three years prior to its publication.

Submit a Nomination


The Best Paper Committee consists of Carol Arnosti (chair of the committee, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Julio Sepúlveda (University of Colorado, Boulder), and Francoise Behar (Total, Paris). Questions may be directed to the committee members or to awards@geochemsoc.org.


Past Awards

Best Student Paper Awards have the year marked with **. Award recipients are selected by the OGD's Best Paper Award Committee.

YearAuthorsTitlePublished
2015 K. French, C. Hallmann, J. Hope, P. Schoon, A. Zumberge, Y. Hoshino, C. Peters, S. George, G. Love, J. Brocks, R. Buick, and R. Summons Reappraisal of hydrocarbon biomarkers in Archean rocks PNAS 112 (2015), pp. 5915-5920
2013 A. Gilbert, R.J. Robins, G.S. Remaud, and G.G. Tcherkez Intramolecular 13C pattern in hexoses from autotrophic and heterotrophic C3 plant tissues. PNAS 109 (2012), pp.18204-9
doi:10.1073/pnas.1211149109
2011 P.V. Welander, M.L. Coleman, A.L. Sessions, R.E. Summons, and D.K. Newman Identification of a methylase required for 2-methylhopanoid production and implications for the interpretation of sedimentary hopanes PNAS 107 (2010), pp.8537-42
2010 A. Amrani, A.L. Sessions, and J.F. Adkins Compound-Specific δ34S Analysis of Volatile Organics by Coupled GC/Multicollector-ICPMS Anal. Chem. 81 (21), (2009), pp.9027-9034
2009 D.M. Jones, I.M. Head, N.D. Gray, J.J. Adams, A.K. Rowan, C.M. Aitken, B. Bennett, H. Huang, A. Brown, B.F.J. Bowler, T. Oldenburg, M. Erdmann and S.R. Larter Crude-oil biodegradation via methanogenesis in subsurface petroleum reservoirs Nature 451 (2008), pp.176-180
2008 V. Thiel, J. Toporski, G. Schumann, P. Sjövall, and J. Lausmaa Analysis of archaeal core ether lipids using Time of Flight-Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS): Exploring a new prospect for the study of biomarkers in geobiology Geobiology 5 (2007), pp.75-83
2007 Y. Hebting, P. Schaeffer, A. Behrens, P. Adam, G. Schmitt, P. Schneckenburger, S.M. Bernasconi, and P. Albrecht Biomarker Evidence for a Major Preservation Pathway of Sedimentary Organic Carbon Science 312 (2006), pp.1627-1631
2006 M. Dumitrescu and S. Brassel Biogeochemical assessment of sources of organic matter andpaleoproductivity during the early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event at Shatsky Rise, ODP Leg 198 Organic Geochemistry 36 (2005)
1997** Silvio Pantoja, C. Lee, J.F. Marecek Hydrolysis of peptides in seawater and sediment. Marine Chemistry 57, pp. 25-40 (1997)
1996 E. Laws, B. Popp, R. Bidigare, M. Kennicutt and S. Macko Dependence of phytoplankton carbon isotope composition on growth rate and [CO2]aq: Theoretical consideration and experimental results GCA 59 (1995), pp.1131-1138
1996** S. Shouten A novel triterpanoid carbon skeleton in immature sulfur-rich sediments GCA 59 (1995), pp.953-958
1995 J. Seewald Evidence for metastable equilibrium between hydrocarbons under hydrothermal conditions Nature 370 (1994), pp.285-287
1995 I.M. Cozzarelli, M.J. Baedecker, R.P. Eganhouse and D.F. Goerlitz
(best student paper)
The Geochemical evolution of low-molecular-weight organic acids derived from the degradation of petroleum contaminants in groundwater GCA 58 (1994), pp.863-877
1993 L.C. Price and J.L. Clayton Extraction of whole versus ground source rocks: Fundamental petroleum geochemical implications including oil-source rock correlations GCA 56 (1992), pp.1213-1222
1992 S. Derenne, C. Largeau, E. Casadevall, C. Berkaloff and B. Rousseau Chemical evidence of kerogen formation in source rocks and oil shales via selective preservation of thin resistant outer walls of microalgae: Origin of ultralaminae GCA 55 (1991), pp.1041-1050
1991 F.D. Mango The origin of light hydrocarbons in petroleum: A kinetic test of the steady-state catalytic hypothesis GCA 54 (1990), pp.1315-1323
1990 K.E. Peters, J.M. Moldowan, A.R. Driscole and G.J. Demaison Origin of Beatrice oil by co-sourcing from Devonian and Middle Jurassic source rocks, Inner Moray Firth, United Kingdom AAPG Bulletin 73[4] (1989), pp.455-471
1989 J.S. Sinninghe Damsté, W.I.C. Bijpstra, J.W. de Leeuw and P. A. Schenck The occurrence and identification of series of organic compounds in oils and sediment extracts: II. Their presence in samples from hypersaline and non-hypersaline palaeoenvironments and possible application as source, palaeoenvironmental and maturity indicator GCA 53 (1989), pp.1323-1341
1989 J.S. Sinninghe Damsté, W.I.C. Bijpstra, A.C. Kockvan Dalen, J.W. de Leeuw and P. A. Schenck Quenching of labile functionalized lips by inorganic sulphur species: Evidence from the formation of sedimentary organic sulphur compounds at the early states of diagenesis GCA 53 (1989), pp.1343-1355
1987 R.E. Summons and T.G. Powell Identification of aryl isoprenoids in source rocks and crude oils: Biological markers for the green sulphur bacteria GCA 51 (1987), pp.557-566
1985 M.D. Lewan Evaluation of petroleum generation by hydrous pyrolysis experimentation PTRSL, Series A, 315 [1531] (1985), pp.123-132
1984 T.C. Hoering Thermal reactions of kerogen with added water, heavy water and pure organic substances Organic Geochemistry 5 (1984), pp.267-278
1983 A.S. Mackenzie and D.P. Mackenzie Isomerization and aromatization of hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins formed by extensions Geological Magazine 120 (1983), pp.417-470
1982 F.J. Sansone and C.S. Martens Volatile fatty acid cycling in organic-rich marine sediments GCA 46 (1982), pp.1575-1589
1981 B.R.T. Simoneit, S. Brenner, K.E. Peters, I.R. Kaplan Thermal alteration of Cretaceous black shales by diabase intrusions in the Eastern Atlantic. II. Effects on bitumen and kerogen GCA 45 (1981), pp.1581-1602
1979 C. Lee, J.W. Farrington and R.B. Gagosian Sterol geochemistry of sediments from the western North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent coastal areas GCA 43 (1979), pp.35-46
1977 R. Ishiwatari, M. Ishiwatari, I.R. Kaplan and B.G. Rohrback Thermal alteration of young kerogen in relation to petroleum genesis Nature 264 (1976), pp.347-349
1977 J.I. Hedges and P.L. Parker Land-derived organic matter in surface sediments from the Gulf of Mexico GCA 40 (1976), pp.1019-1029
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