Sid Cutter Award

First awarded in 1975, this award is a trophy presented annually in Sid Cutter’s name by AAAA to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of hot air ballooning. The nominee should be an individual whose extraordinary dedication has benefited the hot air ballooning community as a whole, not just AAAA, and is someone whose actions and efforts are not otherwise widely or publicly recognized. Recipients of the Sid Cutter Award are automatically awarded an honorary membership in AAAA. The award is presented during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta awards banquet, the first week of October.

Written nominations must be submitted to the AAAA Board of Directors before the last day of August. Send nominations to:

AAAA Board of Directors
P.O. Box 91030
Albuquerque, NM 87199-1030

Past Award Recipients

1975Bob Ruppenthal2000Mark Sullivan
1976Deke Sonnichsen2001Evelyn Byrd & Ann Dickey
1977Bill Murtoff2002Tom Schroeder
1978Pat Barz2003Ray Bair
1979Dick Brown2004Norm Courtney
1980Karl Stefan2005Kay Sant
1981Clair Bennett2006Barbara Fricke
1982John C. Davis IV2007JD Huss
1983--No Award--2008Richard Abruzzo
1984Bert Dohle2009Paul Smith
1985Tom Hamilton2010Arthur Swenka
1986Jewel Cutter2011Beth Wright Smith
1987Tom McConnell2012David Tennis
1988Ellie Mason2013Carol Bair
1989--No Award--2014Richard W. Rice
1990George Hahn2015Frank Mezzencello
1991J.W. Byrd2016Peter Cuneo
1992Kim Vesely2017Ken Tuley aka Art Lloyd Jr.
1993Terry Wright2018--No Award--
1994Troy Bradley2019Sam Parks
1995Sam Baxter2020--No Award--
1996Edward Yost2021Tom Fisher
1997Neida Courtney2022Peg Billson
1998Tina Reeves2023Tom Kious
1999Bruce Hale2024
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