1. The Appleton Prize is awarded by the Council of the Royal Society of London and honours the memory of Sir Edward Appleton, F.R.S., President of URSI from 1934 to 1952. The Prize of £250 is awarded normally at intervals of three years on the occasion of the General Assembly of URSI. If the interval between two General Assemblies is either considerably greater or considerably less than three years, the Board shall consult the Royal Society before modifying the date on which the next award will be made, and the dates referred to in Articles 3, 5 and 6 below. The Council of the Royal Society reserves the right to discontinue the award.
2. The Appleton Prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to studies in ionospheric physics. The award is for career achievements of the candidate with evidence of significant contributions within the most recent six-year period. No member of the URSI Board if Officers shall be eligible.
3. Candidates may be nominated by any Member Committee of URSI, URSI Commission Chair or Vice-Chair or former laureate of any URSI award including the Appleton Prize, but not more than one candidate may be nominated by any one Committee or individual. The names of the candidates must be received by the Secretary General of URSI not later than 15 August of the year preceding that of the General Assembly at which the award is to be made.
4. The name of each candidate must be accompanied by a nomination form (supplied by the URSI Secretary General) providing information on, inter alia :

1. a general summary of the candidate’s career and scientific activities;
2. a review of the candidate’s recent achievements, including references to the most important papers of which the candidate is the sole or a joint author published during the six-year period referred to in Article 2;
3. an outline of the reasons for the nomination of the candidate.

5. As soon as possible after 15 August, copies of the nomination forms referred to in Article 4 shall be sent by the Secretary General to the Awards Advisory Panel, the members of which shall be determined by the President of URSI in consultation with the Board of Officers. The Panel is authorized to seek additional advice from outside its membership, regarding the merits of the candidates, before submitting its own considered views to the Board of Officers not later than 1 March of the year of the General Assembly.
6. After considering the views submitted by the Awards Advisory Panel, the Board of Officers shall submit a short list of candidates in order of preference, with reasons for the order, to the Royal Society by 1 May of the year of the General Assembly and advise the Royal Society of the total number of candidates.
7. The Council of the Royal Society has full authority to select the candidate to whom the Prize will be awarded or to withhold it if, in its opinion, there is no sufficiently qualified candidate.