The Stefanko Best Paper Award, established in 1983, recognizes authors presenting papers in the Coal & Energy Division technical sessions, at SME Annual Meetings, for their contributions to the body of knowledge. The award shall consider: 1) technical quality of the paper; and 2) quality of presentation. The award shall consist of a cash gift and certificate(s) for the author(s). In case of multiple authors the cash gift shall be divided equally among the authors.
- 2023 - John Soles
- 2023 - Wei Tang
- 2023 - Richard A. Thomas
- 2023 - Liming Yuan
- 2022 - Ashish Ranjan Kumar
- 2022 - Guang Xu
- 2022 - Nana Amoako Amoah
- 2021 - Wm. Randolph Reed
- 2021 - Scott S. Klima
- 2021 - Andrew Mazzella
- 2021 - Garron Ross
- 2021 - Gary Roberts
- 2021 - Joe DeLuzio
- 2020 - Garron Ross
- 2020 - Kunwar Shandilya Singh
- 2020 - Michael R. Shahan
- 2020 - Todd Grounds
- 2020 - Vasu Gangrade
- 2020 - Wm. Randy Reed
- 2019 - Chenming Zhou
- 2019 - Bruce Whisner
- 2019 - Jacob L. Carr
- 2018 - Khaled Morsy Mohamed
- 2018 - Gamal Rashed
- 2018 - Morgan M. Sears
- 2018 - John A. Rusnak
- 2018 - Mark Alexander Van Dyke
- 2017 - Kevin Dill
- 2017 - Scott D. Rosenthal
- 2016 - William G. Kendall, Jr
- 2016 - James D. Noll
- 2016 - John A. Organiscak
- 2016 - David S. Yantek
- 2015 - Thomas Hanselaer
- 2015 - Steven Derycke
- 2015 - Stephen C. Tadolini
- 2015 - Anand Bhagwat
- 2014 - Aaron Noble, Fred Stanley & Gerald Luttrell
- 2013 - Joseph DuCarme
- 2013 - Jacob Carr
- 2012 - John Organiscak
- 2012 - James D. Noll
- 2012 - Andrew Cecala
- 2011 - Jurgen Kretschmann
- 2011 - Helmut Ehnes
- 2010 - Timothy Beck
- 2010 - Jeffrey Listak
- 2010 - Gerrit Goodman
- 2009 - Maoming Fan
- 2009 - Kelvin Jiang
- 2009 - Dattatraya P. Patil
- 2009 - Daniel D. Tao
- 2007 - Steve Hennings
- 2007 - Scott Thomson
- 2007 - James Sanford
- 2005 - R. Karl Zipf, Jr.
- 2004 - Michael A. Berdine
- 2004 - Del Brock
- 2004 - Charles N. Thompson
- 2003 - Frank Chase
- 2003 - Deno M. Pappas
- 2003 - Christopher Mark
- 2002 - Romuald Bokotko
- 2002 - Jan Hupka
- 2002 - Jan D. Miller
- 2001 - William H. Schiffbauer
- 2000 - James T. Rybock
- 2000 - Amy L. Anderson
- 1999 - Kot F. Unrug
- 1999 - Edward D. Thompson
- 1999 - David Altizer
- 1998 - Jeffrey M. Listak
- 1998 - Gerrit V. R. Goodman
- 1997 - Ronald P. King
- 1996 - Roger E. Duckworth
- 1996 - Leonard P. Mokwa
- 1996 - Jorge E. Manrique
- 1996 - Danrick W. Alexander
- 1995 - Steven E. Kochevar
- 1995 - R. Steve Kasper
- 1994 - Robert A. Jankowski
- 1994 - John F. Colinet
- 1994 - Jay F. Miller
- 1993 - Stanley C. Suboleski
- 1993 - Robert L. Frantz
- 1993 - Raja V. Ramani
- 1992 - Matthew J. Hrebar
- 1991 - Malcolm J. Scoble
- 1991 - Jonathan Peck
- 1991 - Carl Hendricks
- 1989 - G. T. Lineberry
- 1989 - D. E. Hinkle
- 1988 - Ye Yi
- 1988 - Jan D. Miller
- 1987 - Timothy D. Hackett
- 1987 - Harley Park
- 1986 - Lee W. Saperstein
- 1986 - Keith A. Heasley
- 1985 - Jan K. Wolsky
- 1985 - Donald B. Buddecke
- 1983 - Richard A. Allwes
- 1983 - Jeffrey M. Listak
- 1983 - Gregory J. Chekan
For more information, please contact SME at awards@smenet.org.