The award is sponsored by the AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) Technical Committee and recognizes high-quality papers whose primary author is a student. All six finalists had to present their papers twice: once in front of the selection committee during a special session devoted to the Graduate Student Paper Competition, and again in their appropriate regular session. In addition to the award certificate, Nuno received a $2,500 prize and he was recognized at the GNC awards luncheon.