2016 AAVSO Awards

The thirteenth AAVSO William Tyler Olcott Distinguished Service Award was presented to Donn R. Starkey

“for his for his enthusiastic commitment to educating and mentoring both the

current and next generation of variable star observers, and assuring the future

success of the AAVSO through his forward-thinking service on Council, lending

his considerable business acumen to the Investment and Budget Committees,

and serving as a tireless advocate for the observation of variable stars.”

The full citation is available here


The forty seventh AAVSO Merit Award was presented to Kenneth T. Menzies

"for his devoted service to the AAVSO as a meticulous and prolific

observer, contributing more than 250,000 CCD observations"

Full citation is available here

Lists of earlier recipients of these AAVSO awards may be found here:
     AAVSO Merit Award: https://www.aavso.org/merit-award
     AAVSO William Tyler Olcott Distinguished Service Award: https://www.aavso.org/william-tyler-olcott-distinguished-service-award

Information on all AAVSO honors and awards may be found at https://www.aavso.org/honors-and-awards


Special awards were also prsented to the following people for their contributions in 2016

AAVSO Nova Patrol group

George Silvis (Eggen Card Project)

Dennis Conti (exoplanet observing section)

Francis Hemsher (Technical Infrastructure)

Patrick Wils (Technical Infrastructure)

Staff award – acknowledging of service: Sebastian Otero (5 years)