Hisashi Kobayashi, the Sherman Fairchild University Professor Emeritus of Princeton University and a long-time member of the IEEE Communications Society (Fellow 1977, Life Fellow 2003), received a 2012 C&C (Computer and Communications) Prize. Kobayashi was awarded for his “pioneering and leading contribution both to the invention of high-density and highly reliable digital recording technology and to the creation and development of a performance-evaluation methodology for computer and communication systems.”
The other C&C Prize went to a group of Osamu Yamada (Waseda University), Toru Kuroda (NHK Research Lab) and Masayuki Takada (NHK Research Lab) for their “outstanding leadership in the research and development of the ISDB-T digital terrestrial television broadcasting system.
The award ceremony was held on at ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo on November 28, 2012.
The C&C Prize, established in March 1985 by the NEC C&C Foundation, is given annually to no more than two groups in recognition of their outstanding contributions to research and development and/or pioneering work in the fields of semiconductors, computers, and/or telecommunications and in their integrated technologies (C&C).
Here's the link to view the past recipients of C&C Prizes.