Award DSA

IAF Distinguished Service Award

The IAF Distinguished Service Award is intended to reward active volunteers for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the Federation.

2025 Call for Nominations - CLOSE

Award recipients

Who may nominate?

  • IAF Technical or Administrative Committees members
  • Delegates/members of IAF member organizations in good standing
  • IAF Bureau Members
  • IAF Secretariat

Who can be nominated?

IAF Technical or Administrative Committees members, Delegates/members of IAF member organizations in good standing, IAF Bureau members and IAF Secretariat.

Diversity:

We encourage nominators to take into account the Federation’s 3G Diversity principle, and to help us celebrate and recognize the rich diversity in our community, by considering geography, generation and gender, as well as other factors, when making nominations that otherwise fulfill the respective nominating criteria for each award.

Selection criteria:

  • Duration of nominee’s service
  • Leadership in nominee’s service
  • Excellence of nominee’s service

As a guideline, those recognized for distinguished service should normally meet several of the following criteria:

  • More than 10 years volunteering for the IAF or longer
  • A leadership role in a Technical or Administrative Committee or Sub-Committee, or served on the Bureau
  • Attended the IAC and Spring Meetings on a regular basis
  • Activities that required significant volunteering hours

Nomination Submission:

Nomination package:

The nomination should contain:

  • A citation (one sentence)
  • A biography of the nominee including, i.e., the person’s profile, career achievements and history, education, list of publications, etc.
  • 1 letter of support clearly addressing contributions of the nominee to IAF

Call opening

2025 Call for Nominations - OPEN

The call will be drafted by the subcommittee “IAF Distinguished Service award” with the support of the Secretariat and approved by the IAF Honours and Awards Committee. The call should be available on the IAF website, promoted through mailings and social media.

Call ending

Nomination documents must be received by IAF Secretariat no later than 23:59 CET (Paris time) on Tuesday 13 of August 2024. The call should end at least one month before the IAC to make sure that all committee members have enough time to review all applications and make their selection.

Where to send full nomination:

To IAF Secretariat by email to award@iafastro.org

Selection process:

  • The IAF Honours and Awards Committee will create a subcommittee “IAF Distinguished Service Award”.
  • The subcommittee will draft the call for nominations.
  • The call for nominations will be open and closed as scheduled above.
  • The IAF Secretariat will centralise all nominations, prepare an excel file summarising the nominations package with a link allowing the access online to these packages (on drop box).
  • The IAF secretariat will send the file to the HAC members before the IAC.
  • The subcommittee will review all the nominations and make recommendations of possible recipients to the HAC before the IAC.
  • During the IAC, the IAF Honours and Awards Committee shall review the recommendations by the subcommittee and make a recommendation to the IAF Bureau.
  • The final decision will rest with the IAF Bureau.

Announcement of award recipient(s) and recognition

The recipients will:

  • Contribute a short summary of their experience and achievements, and their perspectives on space and international cooperation, including the role of IAF.
  • Contribute a headshot (Newsletter, Website, IAC Final Programme)

IAF secretariat will:

  • Send notification letters to the nominators and awardees
  • update the IAF website once the recipients have accepted the award
  • promote on IAF Social Media
  • dedicate a special page for the winner on the website (bio + photo) + Photo taken during the awards ceremony
  • send an announcement in a newsletter before IAC
  • write a publication featuring all IAF awards recipients
  • write an article in the IAC final programme

Number of recipients and Expiration of Nomination

Up to 10 recipients will be awarded every year.
A submission which is not successful in any given year may be resubmitted for later years.

Presentation of Award

The Distinguished Service Award recipients will be inducted at the Spring Meetings in March.

Benefits of Award for the recipient(s)

  • Certificate
  • Distinctive pin
  • 50% reduction on the registration fee the year of induction
  • The recipient may include the term “IAF Distinguished Service” on his/her business card

Should you have any questions about the IAF Excellence in International Cooperation Award, please contact the IAF Secretariat at:

Share this article !

Share on linkedin