**Winner Best Photo of 2026**
Team 700 - Arizona State University - Comradery Before Competition

Experimental Sounding Rocket Association Announces Results of the 19th Annual International Rocket Engineering Competition

Midland & Saragossa, Texas — July 2, 2026 — The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) is proud to announce the official results of the 19th annual International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), held June 15–21, 2026 in West Texas. This year’s competition brought together 144 university teams from an initial pool of 196 applicants, representing one of the largest and most diverse fields in IREC history.

The event began on June 15 at the Horseshoe Pavilion in Midland, Texas, where teams completed registration and the first round of Flight Safety Inspections. On June 16, students participated in Podium and Poster Sessions, presenting their engineering achievements and research innovations to ESRA judges and representatives from leading aerospace organizations.

Launch Operations in Saragossa, Texas

The core of the competition took place at the IREC Launch Site in Saragossa, Texas from June 17–20. Despite multiple periods of high winds and a full-day weather shutdown on Friday, June 19, ESRA volunteers and teams worked tirelessly to adapt. To recover lost time, ESRA converted Saturday, June 20 into a full day of launch operations, attempting 67 rocket launches between sunrise and sunset, with final recovery efforts continuing into Sunday, June 21.

Due to the revised schedule, ESRA transitioned the in-person Awards Ceremony to a virtual format, held on Thursday, July 2, 2026, where outstanding achievements across all categories were formally recognized.

**2nd Place Best Photo of 2026**
Team 705 - RMIT University - Horizon Recovers

2026 IREC Award Recipients

Volunteer Awards

ESRA Volunteer of the Year: Mohi Khan
ESRA Lifetime Achievement Awards:
- Dr. Ken Overton
- Dr. Bill Hanson
- Mr. Tony Alcocer

SDL Payload Challenge

Honorable Mentions

Team 314 – Manipal Institute of Technology
Team 315 – University of California, Irvine
Team 18 – University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Team 30 – Lehigh University

Top Awards

3rd Place: Team 52 – Sapienza University of Rome
2nd Place: Team 705 – RMIT University
1st Place: Team 708 – University of Sydney

Technical Awards

Nancy Squires Team Spirit Award

This award honors teams who demonstrate positivity, professionalism, and unwavering enthusiasm throughout the competition.

Runner Up: Team 67 – University of Texas at Arlington
Winner: Team 402 – West Virginia University

Team Sportsmanship Award

Recognizing teams who go above and beyond to support fellow competitors and event organizers.

Runner Up: Team 402 – West Virginia University
Winner: Team 66 – University of Arizona

Jim Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence

Awarded to teams demonstrating exceptional engineering discipline and technical execution.

Runner Up: Team 400 – University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Winner: Team 67 – University of Texas at Arlington

Charles Hoult Award for Modeling & Simulation

Honoring excellence in mathematical modeling and computational analysis.

Runner Up: Team 707 – University of Calgary
Winner: Team 67 – University of Texas at Arlington

James Barrowman Award for Flight Dynamics

Awarded to teams with the smallest percent error between predicted and actual apogee.

Runner Up: Team 7 – Cukurova University
Winner: Team 8 – Duzce University

Dr. Gil Moore Award for Innovation (presented by AIAA)

Recognizing novel engineering solutions and inventive project features.

Runner Up: Team 400 – University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Winner: Team 312 – Federal University of ABC

Media Awards

Best Live Telemetry Visualization: Team 705 – RMIT University
Best Live Rocket Video: Team 99 – University of Virginia
Best Team Video: Team 219 – École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)
Best Photo of 2026:
- 3rd Place: Team 204 - University of North Dakota - Outside the Team Tents
- 2nd Place: Team 705 - RMIT University - Horizon Recovers
- 1st Place: Team 700 - Arizona State University - Comradery Before Competition
- Best Photo Honorable Mentions
  - Team 81 – Clarkson University - 6:00 am
  - Team 102 - University of California - Santa Cruz - Launch at Sunrise
  - Team 73 –University of Houston - High Winds