Arashmid Nahal, researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, Zanjan, Iran, and Luis Fernando Perez Quintian, researcher at the Department of Physics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, will share the International Commission for Optics (ICO)-ICTP Award for 2001. Established in 1999, the ICO-ICTP Award is given to young researchers who were born and continue to live and work in developing countries. Nahal is being honoured for his theoretical studies on polarized light effects in photosensitive films. Perez Quintian is being honoured for his theoretical studies on the diffusion of light on surfaces. Each will receive US$500. The award ceremony will take place in the Main Lecture Hall of the ICTP Main Building on Friday, 2 March at 10:45 a.m., as part of the Winter School on Laser Spectroscopy and Applications. ICO, which has 44 institutional members, is dedicated to advancing global knowledge and high-level research findings on optics through conferences, meetings, schools, fellowships and awards. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ICO is an affiliate commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).