Awards Policies and Requirements

Any AIAA member in good standing may nominate candidates for any of the awards.

Group Directors are not eligible to be nominators or references of those awards they oversee and responsible for an approval.

For AIAA Publications Awards and certain Premier and Partnered Awards, AIAA membership is not a requirement for a nominator.

AIAA wishes to recognize its members and the most renowned individuals worldwide through the honors and awards program. AIAA membership is not required to be nominated for an award, except for the AIAA Distinguished Service Award, AIAA Sustained Service Award and AIAA Mary W. Jackson Diversity and Inclusion Award. Contributions to the aerospace community are important criteria in the selection of award recipients, and AIAA service or participation may be part of the award scoring criteria or a discriminator between otherwise equal candidates.

Self-nominations are not permitted.

AIAA wishes to recognize its members and the most renowned individuals worldwide through the honors and awards program. AIAA membership is not required to be nominated for an award, except for the AIAA Distinguished Service Award, AIAA Sustained Service Award and AIAA Mary W. Jackson Diversity and Inclusion Award.  Contributions to the aerospace community are important criteria in the selection of award recipients, and AIAA service or participation may be a discriminator between otherwise equal candidates. 

Nominees can either be an individual or a team.

• Nominations involving a team of individuals may be submitted if permitted by the scope of the award.  In this case, a summary of the team’s accomplishments and/or achievements that supports and justifies the nomination should be considered as the basis of award, and a roster of team members/contact information should be submitted in lieu of the resume.  Public contributions may be included if appropriate. The team leader must be identified on the nomination form as the point of contact.

With the exception of Premier Awards and Lectureships, nominees cannot receive more than one AIAA National award for the same accomplishment or body of work.

• Some AIAA awards recognize specific and recent accomplishments, while other recognize lifetime achievement. As discussed in the previous section, nominators should be careful to distinguish new nominations from previous AIAA Award winners in either of these two categories so as to ensure there is no overlap. Any nominations viewed as a duplicate will be disqualified.  This review and decision will be conducted by the Group Director, TAD or IOD Chief and the HAC Chair.

• Nominees for AIAA Premier Awards and Lectureships may be accepted for previous AIAA Award winners. The topic of the lecture may cover similar or adjacent work, but the topic or recognition should not be identical to that of the previous AIAA Award winners.

Nominating the same person for multiple AIAA National awards during the same nomination cycle is prohibited. Careful consideration should be given when nominating to ensure that the relevant accomplishments of the nominee are presented clearly and precisely, so that overlap between prior and future awards does not exist. This guideline applies to all awards, including awards where AIAA is a partner, but does not apply to AIAA premier awards, lectureships or to Associate Fellows, Fellows and Honorary Fellows Honors.

The nominee is not eligible for one or more of the following reasons:

• An active or rostered member of the AIAA committee (s) responsible for that award.  A rostered/active member of a committee is a Full, Associate, International, or Alumni/Emeritus Member who is listed on the committee roster on file at AIAA Headquarters. All committee member terms expire on April 30. They are eligible for all member advancements.

• Current members (elected) of the AIAA Board of Trustees and the AIAA Council of Directors are not eligible to be nominated for any award until their term of service ends.  They are eligible for all member advancements.

• Current Director or Deputy Director is not eligible to be nominated, or serve as a candidate nominator, for awards that are under the purview of the TAD/IOD Group.   Deputy Directors may serve as a reference for candidates nominated for awards that are under the purview of the TAD/IOD Group of which they are a Deputy. They are eligible for all member advancements.

• AIAA paid staff members are not eligible for AIAA awards or elevation of their member status for the tenure of their employment with the Institute.  Upon separation from AIAA they are immediately eligible to be nominated for awards or elevation of their member status. 

• Paid Consultants to AIAA are eligible to be candidates to awards and for any member advancement.

All nominees must be living at the time of the nomination deadline.  Posthumous awards will only be made if the awardee passes after AIAA Headquarters formally notified the person of their selection for the award but prior to presentation of the award.  If a nominee passes during any carryover period, the nomination will be withdrawn and AIAA will notify the nominator.  If a nominee passes while the selection process is ongoing, the nomination will be withdrawn and will not be considered.  This policy applies to all awards and member advancements.

Any AIAA member in good standing may submit a nomination. Nominators are reminded that the quality of information is most important and are urged to carefully prepare the nomination and supporting materials.

A complete nomination package must be submitted into the online award system on or prior to the deadline. Nomination packages will be accepted on a daily basis, within the “open submission period,” and considered for that appropriate award year. 

For all nominations, at least three but no more than five references must be submitted to support the nomination.  At least three of those submitted must be from AIAA members in good standing. 

• For Lecture and Publication Award nominations, references are to be listed on the nomination, but references are not required to submit their endorsement.

It is the nominator’s responsibility to contact potential references prior to submitting the nomination to AIAA. 

The nominator may not serve as a reference.

There are three primary award nomination deadline cycles:

• For awards presented at AIAA SciTech Forum (January): Nominations due 1 June; references due 1 July; approval by 1 October
• For awards presented at AIAA Awards Gala/Non-AIAA evenints in the Spring (May): Nominations due 1 October ; references due 1 November; approval by January HAC meeting)
• For awards presented at AIAA AVIATION/ASCEND Forum (late July): Nominations due 15 January; references due 1 February; for approval by 1 May

A complete nomination package must be submitted into the online award system on or prior to the deadline. Nomination packages will be accepted on a daily basis, within the “open submission period,” and considered for that appropriate award year. Extensions to the nomination deadline will not be permitted.

There must be at least three valid nomination packages on file at AIAA Headquarters on or prior to the nomination deadline to be considered for presentation that award year. Failure to have three validated nomination packages on file by the submission deadline will result in the award not being presented for that award cycle.

All nominators will be notified of their candidate’s nomination status approximately 3-4 months after the nomination deadline.

The winner will receive a congratulatory letter. The nominator will be copied on this announcement.

Should a nominee not be selected in the initial year of submission, any nomination that meets the minimum threshold score will be carried over and considered active as a carryover nomination. No action is required from the nominator.

• For awards presented annually, the nomination will be considered a total of three times (first in the initial year of submission and two more times as a carryover).
• For awards presented biennially, the nomination will be considered a total of two times (first in the initial year of submission and one more time as a carryover).
• For all premier awards and lectures, the nomination will be considered a total of two times (first in the initial year of submission and one more time as a carryover).

If the nominee is not selected during this period and has gone through its maximum number of reviews, the nomination will be withdrawn.  In order for that candidate to be considered again, a new nomination package must be submitted into the online award system.  

In all cases, the nominator will be notified of their candidate’s nomination status.

The intent of the Honors and Awards Program is to recognize deserving individuals by the AIAA community as a whole and before their peers. 

Recognition of awardees will appear in the appropriate issue of Aerospace America, posted on the AIAA web site, or other member outreach. 

Presentation of an award will occur during an appropriate Forum or event pre-defined in the description of the award or recommendations by the Honors and Awards Committee. Because of the number of awards in the AIAA Honors and Awards Program, it is not possible to re-schedule or postpone the presentation of an award.

It is the responsibility of AIAA Headquarters to ensure that suitable provisions are made for the dignified presentation of the award.

The administration of the awards resides at AIAA Headquarters, under the auspices of the AIAA Honors and Awards Committee (HAC).  HAC regularly monitors the level of activity for all awards.

Responsibility for awards resides with one or more specific AIAA committees as defined in the award description.  Committees are charged with actively maintaining the award in terms of nominations, currency of award scope, award process, award selection process, etc. 

Only the Premier Awards and Lectures are managed directly by the Honors and Awards Committee.