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Hugo David Awards
(Previously Paper of the Semester Awards)

The Hugo David Awards are two annual awards for the best papers of the year published by an ESM member. They will be awarded yearly at the annual meeting and the prize is 500 Euros for each of the awardees.

In 2021 the ESM, in collaboration with Hugo David's family, decided to honour this great scientist by creating a new award in his name. 

Read more about Hugo David and his work below. 

Entry Guidelines

Who is eligible?

  • First or last author of the publication, must be an active and paid member of the society at the time of the proposal and will be the recipient of the prize.

  • First or last author can only be awarded one prize a year.

  • In cases where there are co-first authors, it is sufficient for one of them to be an ESM member.

  • Researchers must be under 40 (or less than 7 years after PHD)

  • Submitted papers must have appeared within 6 months of the deadline, defined as the date of online publication


Proposals and selection process

  • The deadline for submitting publications will be 30 June and 31 December each year and the winner for each semester will be announced within the month following the deadline. 

  • Proposals are to be emailed to the ESM office (office@esmycobacteriology.eu). Please include an abstract along with a PDF copy of your paper.

  • The ESM Steering Committee will review the entries.

Hugo David Award Winners 2024

The mycobacterial glycoside hydrolase LamH enables capsular arabinomannan release and stimulates growth

From left to right: Dr Patrick Moynihan (PI), Kamilla Anochshenko, Dr Samuel Benedict, Amar Gudka, Greg Goudge, Suzanna Benn, Dr Aaron Franklin, and Abigail Layton.

Published in nature communications

Aaron Franklin, Vivian C Salgueiro, Abigail J Layton, Rudi Sullivan, Todd Mize, Lucía Vázquez-Iniesta, Samuel T Benedict, Sudagar S Gurcha, Itxaso Anso, Gurdyal S Besra, Manuel Banzhaf, Andrew L Lovering, Spencer J Williams, Marcelo E Guerin, Nichollas E Scott, Rafael Prados-Rosales, Elisabeth C Lowe, Patrick J Moynihan

Mycobacterial glycolipids are important cell envelope structures that drive host-pathogen interactions. Arguably, the most important are lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and its precursor, lipomannan (LM), which are trafficked from the bacterium to the host via unknown mechanisms.... Read the full paper here >

Hugo David Award Winners 2023

Published in Eurosurveillance

Miguel Martínez-Lirola , Marta Herranz , Sergio Buenestado Serrano, Cristina Rodríguez-Grande, Eva Dominguez Inarra, Jose Antonio Garrido-Cárdenas , Ana María Correa Ruiz , María Pilar Bermúdez , Manuel Causse del Río , Verónica González Galán , Julia Liró Armenteros , Jose María Viudez Martínez , Silvia Vallejo-Godoy, Ana Belén Esteban García, María Teresa Cabezas Fernández , Patricia Muñoz , Laura Pérez Lago, Darío García de Viedma

Mycobacterium caprae is a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) not routinely identified to species level. It lacks specific clinical features of presentation and may therefore not be identified as the causative agent of tuberculosis. Use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) in the investigation of a family microepidemic of tuberculosis in Almería, Spain, unexpectedly identified the involve- ment of M. caprae. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the pres- ence of additional unidentified M. caprae cases and to determine the magnitude of this occurrence.... Read the full paper here >

Paper of the Semester and Hugo David Winners 2022

Role of Epistasis in Amikacin, Kanamycin, Bedaquiline, and Clofazimine Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex