Youth WWA 2026
October 05 / October 11, 2026
1. Purpose
Promote and celebrate the ham radio activity of young hams, involving as many youths as possible worldwide.
YOUTH Activators are licensed radio amateurs aged 25 years or younger (i.e. up to and including the age of 25).
2. Award Start / End dates
From 00.00 UTC on October 05 2026 to 23.59 UTC October 11 2026
3. Youth / OM QSO
Award is issued following the QSO with the Youth Activators, in the period indicated in point 2 of this regulation. 2-ways QSOs with exchange of report are valid (R/S in SSB, R/S/T for CW, R/S for DIGI).
YOUTH: are the award activators who transmit with their personal callsign and record the QSOs in real time on the Hamaward platform.
HUNTER: are all the hunters who must work the YOUTH activator stations.
4. Bands
HF: 80 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 17 - 15 - 12 - 10 mt
5. Modes
CW, SSB, DIGI (FT8, FT4, RTTY, PSK)
6. Hunter Scores / QSOs
To obtain the Youth-WWA 2026 AWARD, a minimum of 100 points is required. A final ranking (Overall ranking List) is produced for participants making QSOs with Youth Activators, based on the total sum of points as follows:
CW: 10 points for each CW QSO on each band.
example, QSO on 40m CW, 20m CW, 10m CW: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30 points
SSB: 5 points for each SSB QSO on each band.
example, QSO in 80m LSB, 15m USB, 10m USB: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15
DIGI: 2 points for each FT8, FT4, 5 points for each RTTY, PSK QSO on each band.
example, QSO in 80m FT8, 15m FT4, 10m RTTY: 2 + 2 + 5 = 9
7. QSO accreditation
Each Youth Activator can be worked once a day on each band and mode. A "dupe" QSO will not be considered as a penalty.
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN TO ASK FOR QSY BY MODE AND / OR BAND.
8. Hunter Awards
Hunters can obtain the digital awards by working the Youth, All bands and single bands (from 10 to 80), in MIXED, SSB, CW, DIGI mode available.
9. Overall Score listings
Points are assigned real time for QSO with Youth Activators every day on any award mode or band.
Ranking is calculated by:
- higher score
- greater number of QSOs
- greater number of Youth Activators processed
- more bands
- more modes
10. Award release and qsl
To obtain the Youth-WWA 2026 AWARD, a minimum of 100 points is required, within the times and methods indicated in these rules. Issue of the Award is free and does not require paper QSLs or QSO confirmations. The Award is issued by downloading the file in digital format, in high resolution A4 format, without registration, through the hamaward.cloud platform or qrz.com pages, at the end of the Award. eQsl download will be available in Hamaward.cloud. Sending your log and qsl is not required.
11. Country award
A rank for hunters, separated by country, mixed mode, for those who scored the most points from each country.
Free download of the award in digital format (point 10).
12. Achievements
For each ALL BANDS ranking, you can earn BRONZE, SILVER, and GOLD level, based on points.
HUNTERS – ALL BANDS
MIXED
100 points: Bronze level
250 points: Silver level
500 points: Gold level
CW
100 points: Bronze level
200 points: Silver level
400 points: Gold level
SSB
100 points: Bronze level
200 points: Silver level
400 points: Gold level
DIGI
100 points: Bronze level
200 points: Silver level
400 points: Gold level
13. Youth ACTIVATORS Awards
Youth Activators can obtain the digital awards based on the number of QSOs with hunters:
For each ALL BANDS ranking, you can earn BRONZE, SILVER, and GOLD level, based on QSOs.
Youth ACTIVATORS ALL BANDS/CW/SSB/DIGI
150 QSOs: Bronze level
300 QSOs: Silver level
500 QSOs: Gold level
14. Prizes for Hunters and Youth Activators
PLAQUES
Plaques will be awarded to the first three places in each All bands mode category, MIXED, CW, SSB and DIGI, for both Hunters and Youth Activators.
Plaques are awarded to the top 3 in each category, even if they appear in more than one ranking.
DX ENGINEERING GIFT CARDS
A $100 Gift Card goes to the winner of the MIXED category and a $50 Gift Card to the winners of the CW, SSB and DIGI categories, for both Hunters and Youth Activators.
Gift Cards are not cumulative, so they will always go to different participants according to the ranking. Hunters and Youth Activators are awarded separately: each participant can receive at most one Gift Card as a Hunter and one as a Youth Activator.
A participant who wins more than one category receives the Gift Card of the first one in this order: MIXED, CW, SSB, DIGI. Each other Gift Card goes to the next participant in that ranking who has not already received one.
For example, if XX1XX finishes first in both MIXED and SSB, they will receive the MIXED Gift Card, and the SSB Gift Card will go to the second-placed participant in the SSB ranking.
