Awards and certificates

What it is

An amateur radio award is a certificate (or listing) that recognises a collection: contacts with a set of places, people or things. Awards give a reason to keep operating, point you at new bands and modes, and give the log a purpose. They are friendly competition against your own record.

From contact to certificate

The idea is always the same: work a station, confirm the contact, and send your proof to the sponsor. The part that fails most often is the confirmation: both logs must agree on call sign, band, mode and a time within a small tolerance. See Logging and QSL confirmations. Whether a given confirmation counts depends on the program; read the rules before you start.

Well-known examples

Award	You collect	Gist
DXCC	DX entities	Contacts with places counted as separate entities, beyond your own, with a first threshold and many levels and endorsements above it.
WAS (Worked All States)	US states	A confirmed contact with every state, in whatever band and mode the version of the award asks.
WAC (Worked All Continents)	the world's continents	A confirmed contact on each continent. A good first award for a modest station.
IOTA	island groups	Contacts with a list of island groups, each identified by a reference. See Special events, IOTA and lighthouses.
POTA and SOTA	parks, summits	Activating or hunting entries on a list. See Parks on the Air and Summits on the Air.

Each of these has its own bands, modes, endorsements and application process. Counts, levels, dates and fees change; check the program's current rules. Many also have endorsements for a single band, a single mode, or low power.

Getting started

• Keep an accurate log from your first contact. See Logging and contest software.
• Join Logbook of The World (or the program's accepted system) early; it saves a great deal of waiting for cards.
• Let the software track it. Many loggers show which entity, state or continent is still needed, and flag it when it appears on a spotting network.
• Start with a goal you can reach. A first WAC, or the states closest to you, builds confidence.
• Remember the QSL. Contacts that never confirm do not count, however good they were.

Related

• DXingChasing distant stations.
• Logging and QSL confirmationsKeeping a log, paper cards, Logbook of the World and eQSL.
• Logging and contest softwareKeeping track and avoiding dupes.
• Special events, IOTA and lighthousesTemporary stations and award programs.
• Parks on the AirOperating from parks and activating them.
• Summits on the AirRadio on mountaintops.