Heinz-Dietrich Doebner convinced the Standing Committee that it would be necessary for the future development of the field to acknowledge young researchers who presented outstanding work and to motivate them, to continue and to diversify their activity. He proposed to award in each Colloquium a Prize. Ivan Todorov suggested to name this Prize after the mathematician and physicist Hermann Weyl. The first Weyl Prize was awarded in 2002 to Edward Frenkel.