The window to apply for ARRL Centennial Points Challenge and W1AW Worked All States awards is now open! The ARRL Centennial operating events were hugely successful, with participation way beyond anyone’s expectations.

“This was the biggest on-the-air operation in the history of Amateur Radio,” ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, said. More than 5.5 million Centennial event contacts were recorded in Logbook of The World (LoTW) during 2014. That number includes contacts with W1AW portable operations as well as those with individual ARRL members and Field Organization volunteers. W100AW completed about 70,000 contacts.

For most applicants, the process will be simple and largely automated, explained Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Assistant Manager, Field Services and Radiosport Department.

“The form will auto-populate, if we have your information on file, and the form can be edited to update name and address information only,” Fusaro said. “The system will select the awards for which you qualify. Certificates will be printed daily, so fulfillment will be ongoing, while plaques will be shipped directly from the supplier.” Fusaro said ARRL Headquarters has hired extra staff members to handle the added workload.

Certificates will be available for the Centennial Points Challenge Award, while W1AW WAS Award participants will have the option of a certificate or a plaque. Certificates are $16, and plaques are $60.

Fusaro said the task of checking and double-checking electronic logs, entering paper logs into LoTW, and resolving various anomalies put an unexpected burden on staff resources and delayed the opening of the awards window. ARRL Headquarters also had to recalculate all submitted scores to come up with final tallies.

“It’s been a very time and staff-intensive process, researching busted call signs and running down claimed contacts and mode discrepancies for operators,” Fusaro said.

Centennial Points Challenge logs must have been submitted through LoTW by January 22, but participants may apply for Centennial operating awards indefinitely. The system automatically looks for points-qualifying QSOs from submitted logs and applies them to each participant’s Centennial Points Challenge total. While most Centennial QSO Party participants entered their contact information into LoTW, operators do not have to use LoTW to apply for Points Challenge certificates or W1AW WAS awards.

Qualifying for the Top Level Award requires 15,000 points. The Third Level Award requires 7500 points, while the Second and First Level awards require 3000 and 1000 points, respectively. Point totals will be printed on certificates.

US stations that worked W1AW/p and W100AW during the Centennial may request QSL cards via the Incoming QSL Service on the Centennial QSO Party web page. This is a one-time only use of the QSL Bureau for this purpose, and those who want to receive cards via the Bureau should ensure that their accounts are sufficiently funded, because cards will not be held. Cards destined for stations outside the US will be sent via the QSL Bureau. Participants also may request cards directly, providing one SASE for up to six cards per envelope.

W1AW/p and W100AW will not confirm every contact on the traditional paper QSL cards, but will confirm QSOs for each mode and on most bands on a single card for each weekly operation.