The Aerospace Media Awards have been created to honour journalists and publishers who have made a significant contribution to aerospace journalism and publishing. One of the exciting aspects of every Aerospace Media Awards event is the chance to meet and mingle with peers from all over the world. The 2026 Aerospace Media Awards will be presented in London on Sunday 19th July. To register your interest please hit the button below, in the meantime please feel free to view the video below.

The Aerospace Media Dinner has become 'the' aviation media networking event and consistently delivers an evening of superb hospitality and entertainment. 

These are a distinct set of awards celebrating the best in aviation journalism and publishing. The finalists for the 2026 Aerospace Media Awards are as follows

The list finalists and award categories for the 2026 awards is as follows -

Best New Aerospace Journalist - sponsored by Embraer

For journalists under 35 or with no more than 5 years’ experience in aviation journalism

Howard Hardee

Thomas Haynes

Chris Gordon

Will Guisbond

Tabitha Reeves

John Hill

Best Aviation Image – sponsored by Dassault Aviation

Eric Brothers - Rainbow at Aéroport Toulouse-Blagnac during the Airbus Summit - Aerospace Manufacturing and Design

Neville ‘Ned’ Dawson - Albanian Hawks the UH60 enters service with Albania’s Air Force - Antares Magazine 

Benoit Denet - Les Forces Armées belges - Nouveaux noms pour les anciennes composantes de la Défense - RAIDS Aviation 

Jun Liu - Dassault Star 

David McIntosh - Chinese bloom in Singapore skies - Aviation International News - Singapore Airshow News

Coby Wayne - The Challenger In Focus - Coby Explanes 

The Best Safety, Training & Simulation Submission - sponsored by CAE

James Careless - Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) Comes into its Own - Aerospace Innovations

Gideon Ewers - Sound of silence - RotorHub International

Will Guisbond - Special Report: The night everything at DCA finally went wrong - The Air Current

Jonathan Hemmerdinger - FAA to study ‘competency-based’ pilot training methods as Boeing pushes for greater adoption - FlightGlobal

Victoria Moores - A burning issue - Air Transport World

John T. Seward - Arctic Front: The future of subzero combat - The Washington Times

The Best Rotorcraft/Vertical Flight Submission

Ryan Finnerty - How the Ukraine war has (and has not) changed the role of helicopters in combat - FlightGlobal

Elan Head - Tracking the helicopter certification slowdown: causes and consequences - Vertical Magazine

Mark Huber - Giving The Earth An MRI - POWER UP

Jason Jorgensen - Western Australia’s Police Air Wing embraces NextGen capabilities - HeliOps Issue

Jen Nevans - Against All Odds - Vertical Valor Magazine

Richard Scott - Wildcat force reorientates to deliver strike in the north - Janes Defence Weekly

The Best Multi Media Aerospace Submission

For Aerospace and Defence publications - to include podcasts, video reports and integrated media submissions

Tim Robinson - Singapore Air Show coverage - AEROSPACE/AEROSPACE Insight blog

Stephen Bridgewater - AEROSPACE NOTAM - Royal Aeronautical Society

Guy Ferneyhough - Aviation Week's Check 6 Podcast - Aviation Week

Jon Ostrower - The 787-10 is having a moment - The Air Show podcast

Ryan Finnerty, Greg Waldron, and Craig Hoyle - What’s it like to fly in a fighter jet? - FlightGlobal Focus

Max Trescott - LaGuardia Plane Crash + Rob Mark on Losing a Pilot Friend - NTSB News Talk

The Best Business Aviation Submission

Bill Carey - Bizav Sees Ripple Effect From Issues At Newark - Aviation Week Network

Curt Epstein - A Year after KDCA Midair, FBO GM Recalls Bizav Role in Response - Aviation International News

Kerry Lynch - Hop-A-Jet's Ellis Shares Lessons Learned from Crash - Aviation International News

Molly McMillin - Business Aviation Outlook for 2026 - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Mike Stones - NetJets capitalises on the 'flight to quality' - Corporate Jet Investor

Alasdair Whyte - Registering Success - Corporate Jet Investor 

The Best Military Aviation Submission - sponsored by Lockheed Martin

Mena Adel - Checkmating Sams - Airforces Monthly Magazine

Chris Gordon - Life or Death Over Yemen: How 2 F-16 Pilots Survived a Houthi SAMbush - Air & Space Forces Magazine 

Elan Head - Special Report: Lessons from Ukraine’s Drone Industry - The Air Current

Alex Hollings - New material from North Carolina State University could revolutionize stealth aircraft (and even warship) design - Sandboxx News

Gareth Jennings - Long-term plan: Eurofighter operations beyond 2060 – Janes

Vago Muradian and J.J. Gertler - Today's War -- and Tomorrow's - Defense & Aerospace Report Air Power Podcast 

The Best Aerospace & Defence Business Submission

Jonathan Wober - Intra-Europe business class stems decade-long air capacity haemorrhage - CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Aviation Week by Inform

Michael Dempsey - The British jet engine that failed in 'The Valley of Death' - BBC News Website

Stew Magnuson - Soaring Costs: Defense Sector Inflation Threatens To Eat Away at Budget Plus-Ups - National Defense Magazine

Vanessa Montalbano - SPECIAL REPORT: Air Force urges industry to focus IRAD on small bets to make big wartime advances - Inside Defense

Richard Thomas - Connecting the dots: Ukraine’s procurement revolution - Global Defence Technology

Matty Todhunter - Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA): Growth, risk and competition in the global CCA market - Shephard Group

The Mike Savage Award for the Best Passenger & Crew Wellbeing Submission – sponsored by CTT Systems

Jonathan Adams – Got a Head, Get a Helmet - AirMed&Rescue Magazine

Jonathan O’Callaghan – Staying Alive - Aerospace America 

Victoria Moores – A Burning Issue - Air Transport World 

Jen Nevans - From rescuer to survivor: A Coast Guard pilot’s journey through trauma and recovery – Vertical Valour

Alex Preston – Aviation’s Dirty Secret - Aircraft Cabin Management magazine

John Walton - Disabled Passengers, Airport Wheelchairs and the Pernicious Myth of Jetway Jesus - The Up Front 

The Best Un-Manned Systems Submission – sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Elan Head - The accountability problem exposed by the first Garmin Autoland deployment - The Air Current

Jen Kirby - Wanted: More eyes in the skies - Aerospace America

Katie Livingstone - Deadly Iran school strike casts shadow over Pentagon’s AI targeting push - Defense News

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez - Narco drones fly across Latin American skies, with lethal payloads - Future Warfare Magazine

Olivier Santicchi - Civilian Drones - The midway revolution - TF1

Hanneke Weitering - FAA’s BVLOS Overhaul Approaches Finish Line - Aviation International News

The Humanitarian Award -  sponsored by CAN – The Corporate Angel Network

This award recognises journalism covering humanitarian missions, disaster relief operations, medical evacuation (medevac) flights, and the wider role of aviation in delivering critical aid during times of crisis. 

Sam Chui - Inside the UN Aviation Lifeline: IL-76 Humanitarian Airdrop Mission

Curt Epstein - A Year after KDCA Midair, FBO GM Recalls Bizav Role in Response - Aviation International News

Ben Forrest - Inferno over Los Angeles - Vertical magazine

Yves Le Marquand - Air ambulances: Active ageing, active fleets - Corporate Jet Investor Magazine

Jen Nevans - Heroes in the Flood - Vertical Valor Magazine

Nicholas A. Veronico - Helicopter Life Savers - HeliOps Magazine

The Best Propulsion Submission - sponsored by Rolls-Royce

Stephen Bridgewater - Step changes: 100 years of powering the future – AEROSPACE

Ian Harbison - Hang On In There - Aerospace Innovations

Jon Ostrower - GE's quest to keep an engine on the wing where it belongs - The Air Current

Guy Norris - Power Pioneer: Pratt & Whtiney's First Century Part 1 and Part 2 Pratt Powers Up Next-Generation Engine Plans - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Dominic Perry - Rolls-Royce revs up UltraFan test plan, including narrowbody-sized engine – Flightglobal 

Patrick Veillette - Particulates Challenge Turbine Engines - Business & Commercial Aviation 

The Best Space Submission - sponsored by TE Connectivity

Harry Baker - 'No radio astronomy from the ground would be possible anymore': Satellite mega-swarms are blinding us to the cosmos — and a critical 'inflection point' is approaching - Live Science

Vivienne Machi - The Pentagon Is Pushing The Limits Of Responsive Space Missions - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Jonathan O’Callaghan - Heavy traffic ahead - Aerospace America

Mark Piesing - Astronauts in the Alps / Why Are Astronauts Making Daring Fights Through the Mountains? - The Smithsonian Air and Space Quarterly

Garrett Reim - How SpaceX Built Starlink—And A Massive Lead On Rivals - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Ben Sampson – Space Sweepers - Aerospace Testing International

The Best Advanced Air Mobility Submission – sponsored by Joby Aviation

Charles Alcock - Financial Gulf Widens Between Electric Aviation's Haves and Have Nots - AIN Media Group

Paul Brinkmann - Air taxi vertiports still don’t exist, but industry vows they will soon - Aerospace America

Gideon Ewers - Till the lights go out - RotorHub International

Will Guisbond - MOSAIC brings confusion to simplified flight controls - The Air Current

David Hughes - Will Air Taxis Win Public Acceptance? - Avionics News

Yves Le Marquand - What is going on in China? The growth of the low-altitude economy - Revolution.Aero

The Best Commercial Aviation Submission -

Bernie Baldwin - Becoming the Middle East's big deal - Airliner World

Stephen Bridgewater - Still no frills - AEROSPACE         

Jens Flottau - Lufthansa Faces A Long Struggle To Recover Its Competitiveness - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Scott Hamilton - Evaluating next-generation airliner contenders - Leeham News and Analysis/AIN Media Group

Jon Ostrower - Special Report: ATR is making a run at its loneliest market - The Air Current

Gordon Smith - Project Sunrise: The Business of Breaking Aviation's Final Frontier – Skift

The Best Breaking News Submission - sponsored by Honeywell

Sonja Agata Biscan - Europe Is Betting On Space - TVP World

Linus Höller - Heavy Russian cargo plane lands in Caracas amid US-Venezuela tensions - Defense News

Colleen Mondor - Twenty Seconds of Task Saturation at LaGuardia - The Atlantic

Guy Norris - Satellite Images Reveal New Chinese Widebody Transonic Test Site - Aviation Week

Jon Ostrower - Air India crash investigation focuses on movement of engine fuel control switches - The Air Current

Steve Trimble - Project Lotus, Northrop Grumman’s Secret Autonomous Aircraft Revealed - Aviation Week

The Best MRO Submission

Lindsay Bjerregaard - Aircraft Inspections With Drones Accelerate Toward Next Evolution - Inside MRO

James Careless - Robotic Process Automation Improving Life at MROs - Aviation Maintenance Magazine

Michael Gubisch - How CFM and Pratt changed tack on hour-based MRO - Cirium Dashboard

Ian Harbison - Supply Chain Bottlenecks, Shortages, Disruptions Continue - Aviation Maintenance

Emma Lewis - MRO Meets AI: The Race to Protect Passengers and Profit Margins - Aerospace Global News

Alex Preston - Targeting the Achilles heel of Supply Chain Management - Aerospace Innovations

The Best Aerospace Artificial Intelligence (AI) Submission - sponsored by Anduril

For articles about AI in aerospace, not articles written by AI

Bernie Baldwin - Twin Peaks - MRO Management

Lindsay Bjerregaard - MRO’s AI Development Efforts Begin Paying Off - Inside MRO

Elan Head - Special Report: Why the aviation industry can’t agree on how to certify AI - The Air Current

Rob Hodgetts - How cyber secure is your jet? – Corporate Jet Investor

David Hughes - AI, Will it Fly? - Avionics News

Gareth Jennings - BAE Systems, Avioniq trial Rattlesnaq AI on Eurofighter Typhoon – Janes

The Best Efficiency and Sustainable Aviation Submission - sponsored by BETA Technologies

David Bentley - Green financing of airports – Swedavia’s new framework casts light on global developments - CAPA - Centre for Aviation

Ryan Finnerty - US Navy funding development of seawater-to-jet fuel conversion system for carrier operations – Flightglobal

Dominic Perry - ZeroAvia rejigs ZA600 certification plan after funding constraints force sweeping layoffs – Flightglobal

Mark Piesing - Floating into the Future – AEROSPACE

Olivier Santicchi - Climate Impulse - New dawn for Bertrand Piccard - TF1 

Paul Willis - Green Gains - Air Traffic Technology International  

Aerospace Content Creator of the Year  – kindly sponsored by Boeing

A new award aimed at the growing cohort of industry professionals engaged in research, production, and distribution of timely news stories and related multimedia content that reaches across different platforms (print, web, social media, video, podcasts).

Joe Diebolder - Captain Joe

Elisabeth Gosselin – DefenseDigestwithElisabeth

Zach Griff - @_zachgriff + From the Tray Table 

Alex Hollings - Sandboxx News

Chad Trautvetter - AINalerts

Coby Wayne - Coby Explanes 

The Best In-depth Aerospace Submission – sponsored by Eurofighter

Atul Chandra - On a Hair Trigger - Indian analysis of Operation Sindoor - Future Warfare

Theo Leggett - Boeing's 787 Dreamliner was deemed the 'safest' of planes. The whistleblowers were always less sure - BBC News In Depth

Alex Preston - Battle of the Bands - Aerospace Innovations

Pietro Batacchi, Tommaso Massa, Andrea Mottola, Carolina Paizs - Fourth Gulf War - Military analysis of the first phase of operations - Future Warfare Magazine

Garrett Reim - Quantum Arms Race - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Gordon Smith - Project Sunrise: The Breaking of Aviation's Final Frontier - Skift

Matt Thurber - Notams, Finally Getting Fixed? - AIN

Matty Todhunter - Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA): Growth, risk and competition in the global CCA market - Shephard Group

The Bill Gunston Technology Writer Of The Year Award - sponsored by Boeing

Bill Carey

Ryan Finnerty

Gideon Ewers

Elan Head 

Garrett Reim

Thomas Withington

The Aerospace Reporter of the Year Award – sponsored by Dassault Aviation

Ryan Finnerty

Jon Ostrower

Craig Hoyle

Jens Flottau

Steve Trimble

Howard Hardee 

Lifetime Achievement Award - Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aerospace Journalism -

The Winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced at the Awards ceremony

The 2026 Aerospace Media Awards will be presented in London on the evening of Sunday July 19th

If you have any questions about the 2026 awards, please submit them to themediadoctor@aol.com