IBackground and Aim
The Centurion Award recognises operators who hunt or activate UK bunkers spanning the full numerical range of the 3,850 UKBOTA references. There are two separate awards, one for Hunters and one for Activators, plus an SWL award for shortwave listeners. All are open to any band and any mode.
Aim: to encourage broad participation across the whole bunker list, with a real challenge for both hunters and activators.
Centurion Hunter
Work activators at bunkers across all 100 endings.
Centurion Activator
Activate bunkers across all 100 endings.
Centurion SWL
Hunter progress only, for shortwave listeners.
IIEvent Period
The award runs from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 inclusive. Only qualifying contacts made within this period count.
IIIThe Overview: Ending-Pairs
Every UKBOTA bunker reference ends in a number from 00 to 99: the last two digits of the numeric part of the reference. This is the ending-pair, and each one is a slot to fill. The award is entirely prefix-agnostic, so bunkers in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies all count towards the same 100 slots.
| Reference | Slot |
|---|---|
| B/G-0123 | 23 |
| B/G-2388 | 88 |
| B/GM-0100 | 00 |
| B/GW-0239 | 39 |
| B/GI-0124 | 24 |
| B/GD-0007 | 07 |
| B/GJ-0017 | 17 |
Each award has its own 10 × 10 scoring matrix (bingo card) showing which of the 100 endings you have filled.
IVScoring
Hunters
Working an activator at a bunker fills that bunker's ending-pair on the Hunter award. Any band and any mode counts.
Activators
An activation is valid with a minimum of 25 QSOs in total. Any band and any mode may be combined, including mixed modes, and VHF/UHF QSOs count towards the 25. There is no separate VHF award. Returns to the same bunker(s) at any time during 2027 may be used to reach the 25 QSOs.
Multi-bunker activations (5-fer)
Up to 5 bunkers may be activated at once. The same 25 QSOs count towards every bunker in the activation, so one valid activation can fill up to five ending-pairs. Each bunker needs a different ending-pair to fill a separate slot: two bunkers sharing an ending fill it only once.
Points
- Each newly filled ending-pair scores 1 point on that award.
- Maximum score per award: 100 points.
- Duplicates do not count. Once an ending-pair is filled on an award, further bunkers sharing that ending add no more Centurion points on that award. They are still logged and scored normally under existing UKBOTA rules for other awards.
Bunker to Bunker (B2B)
A B2B QSO counts towards the activation QSO total for each activator, and also scores a hunted bunker on the Hunter award for each bunker worked in that QSO. A B2B or bunker-to-hunter QSO cannot be scored by working a station at the same bunker, including a bunker within your own 5-fer.
Plan early. Choose your bunkers for their endings, and collaborate with other activators so your B2B opportunities line up.
VTiers
The same ten tiers apply independently to the Hunter, Activator and SWL awards. Each tier is awarded on reaching its threshold and is kept regardless of later activity: tiers are never lost.
VICenturion SWL
Shortwave listeners cannot activate a bunker, so the SWL award tracks hunter progress only. There is one slot per ending (00–99), and each qualifying report of a new ending scores 1 point. It has its own 10 × 10 bingo card.
VIIAward Scores and Claims
An award score widget will be available on the UKBOTA website no later than 1 January 2027. Claims are made via the UKBOTA award claims webpage and open on 1 January 2028. Claims received by any other method, such as email, will not be processed.
VIIIQuestions and Issues
Please send any questions about the award, or any support issues, via a UKBOTA Support Ticket.