The Institute has three classes of annual award and competition.

Every year, at the International Astronautical Congress, the Institute gives out awards and certificates to people who have shown outstanding achievement in the field of space law.

At the IISL meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, 2008, Prof. Francis Lyall (Scotland) was given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Prof. Dr I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor Award is granted annually by the IISL Board of Directors.

The 2007 Dr. I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor Award and Prize was given for the seventh time in India to Mr Fabio Tronchetti of Italy, a PhD student at Leiden University, for his paper The Non-Appropriation Principle Under Attack Using Article II of the Outer Space Treaty in its Defence. The evaluation committee consisted as usual of Prof. Back Impallomeni (chair), Dr Jakhu and Dr Ospina. There were a record number of eleven entries. The winning paper gets a special mention in the Proceedings.

The Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition began in 1992 and is organised annually by the International Institute of Space Law.