For a paper published in any venue during the previous calendar year (2017) that shows significant potential to advance the field of Artificial Life.
Winner:
Droplets As Liquid Robots
Jitka Čejková, Taisuke Banno, Martin M. Hanczyc and František Štěpánek
Artificial Life, Vol. 23, No. 4 (2017), pp. 528-549