The 2nd annual SpaceNews Awards for Excellence & Innovation honor excellence and innovation among space professionals, companies, programs and organizations during the previous 12 months. We are seeking nominations for the following awards:
- Company of the Year
- Government Agency of the Year
- Corporate Leader of the Year
- Government Leader of the Year
- Unsung Hero of the Year
- Startup of the Year
- Turnaround of the Year
- Breakthrough of the Year
- Deal of the Year
To submit multiple nominations, just return to this page and click the link above again.
Selection Process
Beginning Sept. 1: Readers submit nominations for nine awards categories.
Mid-September to Mid-October: SpaceNews’ panel of judges select finalists from community nominations.
Mid-October to early November: Readers vote on finalists via SpaceNews.com.
Mid-November: Winners will be notified.
Early December: Winners will be announced in the Dec. 2 issue of SpaceNews magazine and honored at a SpaceNews awards luncheon in Washington, D.C.
Cobham is the anchor sponsor of the 2018 SpaceNews awards
Company of the Year: SpaceX
Runner up: Planet
Finalists: Arianespace; Maxar Technologies; Nanoracks
Corporate Leader of the Year: Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX
Runner up: Jeffrey Manber, Nanoracks
Finalists: Rick Ambrose, Lockheed Martin; Jason Andrews, Andrews Space; Kirk Pysher, ILS
Government Leader of the Year (Military): Gen. John Hyten
Runner up: Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing
Finalists: Robert Cardillo, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; Gordon Roesler and the DARPA Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites team
Government Leader of the Year (Civil): Étienne Schneider
Runner up: George Nield, FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Finalists: Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES; Catherine Mealing-Jones, U.K. Space Agency
Government Agency of the Year: 45th Space Wing
Runner up: Indian Space Research Organisation
Finalists: FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
Deal of the Year: Maxar Technologies
Runner up: Planet buys Terra Bella
Finalists: Speedcast buys UtilSat; Teledyne buys e2V; Virgin Group lands $1 billion Saudi investment
Breakthrough of the Year: Planet completes Mission 1
Runner up: SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 booster
Finalists: Spectrolab’s XTJ Prime solar cell; Lockheed Martin’s SPIDER flat optical instrument; Sodern’s Auriga miniaturized star trackers; Space System Loral’s Ultra High Density Satellite
Startup of the Year: Kymeta
Runner up: Sky and Space Global
Finalists: LeoLabs; Made In Space; Rocket Lab
Turnaround of the Year: International Launch Services
Runner up: Orbital ATK
Finalists: Alaska Aerospace Corp.; Spacecom; SpaceX
Unsung Hero of the Year: Jason Crusan, NASA
Runner up: Frank “Ceppi” Cepollina, NASA
Finalists: R. Gilbert “Gil” Moore, Utah State University; Tom Mueller, SpaceX; Guy Perez, OHB; Eric Rehder, Boeing Spectrolab