Introduction

Young people have been increasingly denied access to astronomy. Several factors have contributed to this problem. First, most high schools do not offer astronomy as a field of study. Another limiting factor is that light pollution near large cities has destroyed the once magnificent views of the night skies. To encourage our nation's younger students, the Astronomical League has established the National Young Astronomer Award. N.Y.A.A. is designed to recognize the outstanding achievements by high school aged astronomers throughout the United States.

Please join with us as we explore the wonders of the universe. Don't let our nation's young students miss out on this exciting opportunity!

 

The Application and Award.

To apply, eligible persons should submit application packages by the deadline. The package will consist of a completed application form, a summary of astronomy related activities, and optional exhibits. The application must be postmarked not later than January 31 of the award year. Winners will normally be announced within six weeks of the award deadline.

  

Introduction

Young people have been increasingly denied access to astronomy. Several factors have contributed to this problem. First, most high schools do not offer astronomy as a field of study. Another limiting factor is that light pollution near large cities has destroyed the once magnificent views of the night skies. To encourage our nation's younger students, the Astronomical League has established the National Young Astronomer Award. N.Y.A.A. is designed to recognize the outstanding achievements by high school aged astronomers throughout the United States.

Please join with us as we explore the wonders of the universe. Don't let our nation's young students miss out on this exciting opportunity!

 

The Application and Award.

To apply, eligible persons should submit application packages by the deadline. The package will consist of a completed application form, a summary of astronomy related activities, and optional exhibits. The application must be postmarked not later than January 31 of the award year. Winners will normally be announced within six weeks of the award deadline.

A screening panel composed of amateur and professional astronomers will review all applications and select ten finalists. From these ten finalists, a national panel of professional astronomers will select first, second, and third place winners for N.Y.A.A.

The application may be downloaded here

The Award Telescope

The first place winner will receive a 5 inch refracting Telescope. This prize has been made possible by the generosity of Explore Scientific who is also contributing significantly to the operation of the N.Y.A.A. The winner also receives an all-expense paid trip to the League's national convention to receive the award.

(Left) Meade Telescopes representative Sheldon Faworski presents 1995 N.Y.A.A. winner Heather E. Castellano with the Meade 10-inch LX-200 telescope in San Antonio, TX.

Observatory Lifetime Passes

The University of Texas McDonald Observatory presents "Lifetime Passes" to the first and second place winners. This award enables N.Y.A.A. winners to share telescope time with professional astronomers at the observatory.

Other Recognition

Plaques will be presented to the first, second and third place winners at the League's national convention each summer. Announcements regarding the top three winners will be also be submitted for publication to all major national astronomy magazines, to the League's national newsletter, Reflector, and to the winners' local news media.

(Right) Awards Chair Chuck Allen applauds 1995 N.Y.A.A. Winner Heather E. Castellano as Astronomical League President Barry Beaman presents her with the 1995 N.Y.A. Award at the National Astronomical League Convention.

Past N. Y. A. Award Winners

1993
Blake Warren Thomas
Edgewood, New Mexico
"Spectrographic Analysis of Cepheid Pulsation"

1994
Stephanie C. Cinereski
Gainesville, Florida
"Solar Flare and Sunspot Research"

1995
Heather E. Castellano
St. Hedwig, Texas
"Elements of Impact Crater Formation"

1996
Mani S. Mahjouri
Columbia, Maryland
"Simulation of Charged Particle Motion in Jupiter's Magnetosphere"

1997
Heather Cameron
Greenwich, Nova Scotia
"Solar Observation Station"

1998
Mary Dombrowski
Glastonbury, Connecticut
"Cataclysmic Stellar Variability with Eclipsing Binary Superimposition"

1999
Elizabeth Fernandez
Albuquerque, New Mexico
"Active Galaxies in the Perseus Supercluster"

2000
Patrick L. Kelly
Washington, DC
"The Color-Magnitude Relation in Hickson Compact Group 62"

2001
Susannah C. Lazar
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
"Performed Photometry of Many Asteroids"

2002
Albert King Lin
Fresh Meadows, New York
"A Survey of the Public Chandra Data Archive (CDA) in Search of Serendipitous X-ray Pulsars: A Systematic Approach"

2003
Maxwell Cassady Moe
Fort Collins, Colorado
"Demographic and Atmospsheric Effects on the Quality of the Night Sky"

2004
John Davis
Penfield, New York
"Built a Research Grade Observatory From Scratch"

2005
Christopher Limbach
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"Light Curve Analysis of Eclipsing Binary Star EP Aurigae"

2006

2007
1. Naomi Pequette, Denver Astronomical Society
2. CJ Wood

2008
1. John Hodge II
2. Lara Knorek
3. Neil Pearson, Denver Astronomical Society

2009
1. Harry Gaebler
2. Jordan Bramble, Back Bay Amateur Astronomers
3. Gayathri Cheran, NOVAC
4. Lauren Wyman

 

Read Articles about Winners

Read about the 1997 Award Winners!
Read about the 1998 Award Winners!
Read about the 1999 Award Winners!
Read about the 2000 Award Winners!
Read about the 2001 Award Winners!
Read about the 2002 Award Winners!
Read about the 2003 Award Winners!
Read about the 2004 Award Winners!
Read about the 2005 Award Winners!
Read about the 2006 Award Winners!
Read about the 2007 Award Winners!
Read about the 2008 Award Winners!
Read about the 2009 Award Winners!

Eligibility

To be eligible, candidates must be United States citizens, 14 to 19 years of age and not enrolled in college on the award deadline. Foreign students of the same age are eligible if they are enrolled in a United States secondary school on the application deadline.

Candidates are not required to be members of an astronomy club or of the Astronomical League in order to enter. Questions regarding eligibility should be addressed to the Award Chair or Vice-Chairs.

The application is located here in PDF form

The N. Y. A. Award Chair is:

Mr. Carroll Iorg
Co-chair, NYAA
7241 Jarboe
Kansas City, MO 64114
Phone is 816-444-4878
E-mail: Carroll-Iorg@kc.rr.com

 

The N. Y. A. Award Assistant is:

Terry Mann
8395 State Route 127
West Manchester OH  45382-9721
(937) 678-5032 (home)
E-mail: starsrus@infinet.com

The application deadline (postmark date) is January 31.

Donations

Support of the National Young Astronomer Award is greatly appreciated. N.Y.A.A. donations are tax deductible and can be sent payable to the Astronomical League at any of the addresses listed above. For information about N.Y.A.A. or the Astronomical League, contact any of the N.Y.A.A. officers above.

Policy

Award selections are, by their very nature, subjective. Accordingly, the League warrants only that awards will be presented to individuals who, in the opinion of the national judges, merit the awards.

Because of staffing constraints and difficulties inherent in the award process, the Award Chair may extend deadlines or respond to special needs and circumstances in administering the award.

The decisions of the national judges are final. All national judges must agree to consider applications strictly on merit and without regard to gender, race, color, national origin, religion or disability. Judges who know any applicant are required to disqualify themselves.

Judges' rankings are averaged using Zip's Law (third place vote equals 1/3 point, fourth place vote equals 1/4 point etc.). Ties are broken by the lowest total of raw rankings.