By Frank Beafore, WS8B, Awards Committee Chairman

On behalf of Michael Kalter, W8CI, 2011 Hamvention Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to announce our Hamvention 2011 award winners. I want to thank everyone that submitted nominations. The choice was difficult and we wished that we had an award for everyone nominated. We will be providing additional information on our award winners in the very near future. Please watch our website for the details.

Amateur of The Year was given to Shirley Roberts, N8LX, of Dayton Ohio. This prestigious award goes to an amateur that has demonstrated significant contribution to Amateur Radio as well as related public service. Shirley exemplifies all of the deepest aspects of this award.

Club of The Year award was given to the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club, WA4TFZ, of Charlottesville, Virginia. In addition to all the normal club activities we find with a well led organization, Albemarle ARC showed exemplary contributions in public service, emergency communications and youth recruiting.

The Technical Excellence Award went to Roy Lewallen, W7EL, for his development of EZNEC -- an antenna modeling software system used by hams worldwide. This software is now the basis for numerous Amateur Radio antenna training courses.

Our Special Achievement Award goes to Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, of QRZ fame. Starting out as the “call sign project,” Fred has developed the QRZ website as an interactive “one stop shop.” This system provides deep, detailed operating and technical information available to hams worldwide.

The 2011 Hamvention will be held at Hara Arena near Dayton, Ohio, May 20-22.