IAF Distinguished Service Award - Call for Applications

The 2026 Call for Applications is OPEN!

Submit your nominations by Friday 8 of August 2025!

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is pleased to announce the Call for Nominations for the 2026 “IAF Distinguished Service Award” that recognizes distinguished service by volunteers and/or staff to the activities of the Federation.

Who may nominate?

The Call for Nominations for the IAF Distinguished Service Award is addressed to 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.

Nominations 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

Selection criteria:

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

Criteria

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

The IAF Distinguished Service Award Sub-Committee will review the nominations received for the IAF Distinguished Service Award and will make recommendations to the IAF Honours and Awards Committee (HAC). The HAC will review the recommendations and make final recommendations to the IAF Bureau at the IAC 2025 in Sydney.

The IAF Distinguished Service Award comprises a distinctive pin and certificate presented at the IPC General Meeting during the IAF Spring Meetings 2026 in Paris. The recipient’s registration fee for the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) will be reduced to 50% of the applicable fee for the year of induction (IAC 2026).

Nomination documents must be received by IAF Secretariat no later than 23:59 CET (Paris time) on the Friday 8 August 2025, preferably by email at award@iafastro.org (Subject line: NOMINEE’S LAST NAME Nominee’s First Name-IAF Distinguished Service Award 2026).

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