NTSA Modeling and Simulation Awards
2026 M&S Award Schedule
- June 15, 2026: Call for Nominations Opens
- September 4, 2026: Deadline for Submissions
- Beginning of October: Winners are notified
- December 1, 2026: M&S Awards are presented at the NTSA Modeling and Simulation Awards Dinner (dinner is by invitation only) during I/ITSEC in Orlando, FL
Award Categories
Nominations (for individuals or teams) may be submitted for outstanding achievement in the following categories. Be sure to identify the correct category (see below) for your submission / nomination.
The Education / Human Performance track seeks nominations that discuss the development and application of instructional strategies, methods, theories, and best practices that promote or advance learning and / or focus on the human dimension, addressing humans as an integral component within systems and in mission accomplishment. Nominations should clearly articulate recent and innovative advances in the development and application of standards, methods, theories and strategies across all phases of the learning lifecycle (analysis, design, development, delivery, and evaluation) to promote and/or accelerate learning. Emerging areas of interest include but are not limited to leveraging strategies that include virtual, mobile, social, blended, and adaptive learning and / or that leverage and extend the capabilities of an individual or team during training, and/or impact learning transfer and operations.
The Training Systems Acquisition track seeks nominations related to issues associated with the acquisition of training devices, training simulations, and training services. Nominations are sought that provide insight into innovative approaches for acquiring, implementing, and sustaining these capabilities. Industry submittals might characterize internal innovative processes or techniques to streamline development and delivery while meeting required capabilities in this supply chain challenged environment. Government submittals might address innovative or new contracting approaches or acquisition strategies used to efficiently acquire and/or update training devices, simulators, and services. As such any nomination should provide qualitative and quantitative data such as cost or schedule savings to help substantiate outcomes.
The Simulation / Training track seeks nominations that discuss the application of innovative concepts, methods, and technologies to create effective simulation solutions, whether for training or non-training applications. Popular topic areas include AR/VR, agile and adaptive training strategies; integration techniques; simulation system interoperability; individual and collective team training; crew coordination; legacy system upgrades; and modeling and simulation for experimentation, research, concept development, and weapon system acquisition. Evaluations of simulation training effectiveness and documented lessons learned, with quantifiable data, are encouraged.
The Lifetime Achievement award recognizes a candidate's significant and substantial contributions over the whole of a career to establishing Modeling and Simulation as a discipline in academia, industry, and/or the government. This award is intended to recognize individuals whose contributions have demonstrated repeated outstanding achievements of a lasting impact. The nomination should clearly reflect the candidate's outstanding contributions to the M&S industry, notable successes achieved during their lifetime, and commitment to nurture the robust evolution of the M&S profession. The significant nature of the candidate's contributions should be supported by an explanation of their impact on the ways in which their contributions advanced modeling and simulation in Government, Industry, or Academia.
Please click on Past Award Winners on the right for more details about past winners.
For more NTSA M&S Awards information, please contact Erica Albrittain at ealbrittain@NTSA.org