The Five-Pillar WWBOTA Award Framework
WWBOTA’s awards framework is built on five complementary pillars, each rewarding different aspects of participation:
1. WWBOTA Lifetime Awards – To reward dedication and accumulated experience. These awards are the legacy WWBOTA awards and continue. (Lifetime, began 1st October 2023)
2. WWBOTA CW Awards – To reward CW activity (Lifetime, begins 1st March 2026)
3. WWBOTA DXCC Awards – To reward geographic diversity and entity collection (Annual, begins 1st March 2026)
4. WWBOTA Activity Awards – To reward consistent participation and regular engagement (Annual, beings begins 1st March 2026)
5. WWBOTA Special Events Awards – The reward diverse effort and participation in Winterfest (Winter) and Bunkerfest (Summer): WWBOTA Sponsored, short time period, special events.
Combined, these five pillars form a balanced recognition system that supports operators regardless of location, mobility, or operating style.
Click/tap one of the buttons above to find out more about a specific award.
The new WWBOTA CW Awards, DXCC Awards and Activity awards all begin 1st March 2026. QSOs before this date are not valid for these awards.
WWBOTA General Rules – 2026
Unless otherwise specified in the rules or conditions for a specific WWBOTA award or national award, the following WWBOTA general rules apply for 2026:
1. Valid Activation
A valid activation requires the activator to complete a minimum of 25 QSOs on HF, or a combination of HF and VHF (mixed), from the bunker or bunkers being activated.
The same station may be worked on multiple bands, and each QSO counts toward the 25-QSO total.
QSOs made in different modes on the same band, with the same hunter, do not count as additional QSOs.
For a VHF-only activation, the minimum requirement is 5 QSOs.
2. Revisiting Sites
If an activator needs to revisit a bunker in order to achieve the minimum number of QSOs:
(a) Lifetime Awards
There is no time limit within which subsequent visits must take place.
(b) Annual Awards
Subsequent visits must take place within the same calendar year.
When revisiting a bunker to qualify, the activator may work hunters previously worked on other days, and these QSOs will count toward the required total.
3. Multi-Bunker Activations
An activator may activate up to five bunkers simultaneously, provided they are within the activation zone of all bunkers being claimed.
Logging and Award Claims
Eligibility for WWBOTA awards is based on the participants WWBOTA Logger record.
All claims for WWBOTA awards must be made using the WWBOTA Awards claims matrix. Awards queries should be directed to the WWBOTA Awards Manager at awards@wwbota.org
National Awards
These WWBOTA Awards are complementary to those awards run and issued by national xxBOTA schemes.
The rules within these WWBOTA awards neither imply or specify changes to national rules, but the national xxBOTA scheme bunkers provide the foundations for these five pillars through their networks of interesting bunkers, enthusiastic activators and eager hunters and SWL.
Details of national xxBOTA awards can be found on national scheme pages, and an index to national pages is on the WWBOTA homepage.