At the recent International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Beijing, China, the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) handed out its annual awards to persons for their specific and distinguished contributions to the IISL.

Dr Marietta Benkö (Germany) was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her invaluable and distinguished services to the IISL publications committee, her building of literary wealth and her lifetime achievements including her transformative leadership to the German Journal for Air and Space Law (ZLW) as its Executive Editor for about three decades, and her contributions to development of international law including her role in the legal subcommittee of UNCOPUOS in matters such as the principles for safe use of Nuclear Power Sources and legal issues of space debris.

Dr Martha Mejia-Kaiser (Mexico/Germany) was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for her years of outstanding and dedicated services to the IISL and to the international legal community, including as a Co-Chair of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Committee and as a judge in the Manfred Lachs (Space Law) and Telders (International Law) Moot Court Competitions.

Mr Philippe Clerc (France) was given an Award of Appreciation for years of dedicated service to the IISL and in recognition of his extraordinary and significant contributions in the implementation of legal and regulatory aspects of space activities through his role in the French National Space Agency and his instrumental part in the preparation, drafting, legislative processing and implementation of the French national space legislation, and his active contributions for over a decade in the conferences and colloquia organised by the Institute.

The winners of the 2013 Diederiks-Verschoor Award for best paper by a young author are Elena Carpanelli and Brendan Cohen, for their paper titled "The Notion of Damage Caused by a Space Object under the 1972 Liability Convention".