I received the 2011 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications earlier this month at the 2011 IEEE GLOBECOM award ceremony in Houston, TX. This award recognizes papers that open new lines of work, envision bold approaches to communication, formulate new problems to solve, and essentially enlarge the field of communications engineering.
More information about the paper and the awards, via Columbia University School of Engineering: EE/CS Paper Wins National Award for New Communication Topics.