The Barton A. Thomas Memorial Award honors the memory of Barton A. Thomas, an innovative and pioneering leader in the field of coal combustion by-product utilization. It is presented to the person whose presentation (oral or poster) is chosen by a panel of judges to be the most outstanding of the Symposium. The award is made possible by Virginia Thomas and is sponsored by the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research.

The 1999 recipient was Dr. Xavier Querol of the Institute of Earth Sciences "Jaume Almera", CSIS, in Barcelona, Spain. His presentation was delivered on October 19, 1999 in the Chemistry and Mineralogy Session. It was entitled "Synthesis of Zeolites from Fly Ash in a Pilot Plant Scale Examples of Potential Environmental Applications".

The 1997 recipient was Michael D. A. Thomas of the Dept. of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto. His presentation was entitled "The Use of Fly Ash in Concrete: a Question of Classification". It was delivered on October 20, 1997, at 10:15 a.m. in the session entitled "Concrete and Cement".

The 1995 recipient was Ronald Hamric. His presentation was entitled "The Backhaul and Utilization of Coal Ash in Reclamation and AMD Mitigation by Patriot Mining Company, Inc." It was delivered on October 24, 1995, at 10:45 a.m. in the session entitled "Mine Reclamation/Backhauling".