The Director’s Commendation is an award made by a Section Director to a member for significant contribution to the Section’s work. The criteria are to be left to the discretion of the Section Director, but could include dedication, persistence despite challenging circumstances such as a disability, quantity, quality, value, uniqueness, and so on. This certificate may be awarded more than once to a member provided it is for a different reason each time. The Section Director will write the citation to go with the Commendation, which is to be presented at the recipient’s local Centre AGM or at the ASSA AGM. Council is to be informed of all recipients before the Society’s AGM and their names will be published in MNASSA and on the ASSA website. The Commendation will be signed by the Section Director. The Commendation was formally establish in July 2014.

Recipients of Director’s Commendations

History Director’s Award: Auke Slotegraaf – 2026, received a Director’s Commendation in gratitude for his hard work done in the field of archiving and  conservation of Heritage Objects in the field of the History of Astronomy. Due to his diligence valuable material was rescued.
Comet, Asteroid & Meteor Section Director’s Award: Angus Burns – 2025, in acknowledgment of his imaging comets C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) which is of a high standard and support the Section’s objectives.
Instrumentation Directors Award: Dave Rick – 2025, in recognition of his decades-long support of the ATM class, for having built 6 telescopes given to youths to promote interest in astronomy.
Amateur Telescope Making: Rodney Hyman – Long-term support to ASSA in particular to the Amateur Telescope Making fraternity, ScopeX and 26.5” refractor at Johannesburg Observatory.
Astrophotography: Clyde Foster, Kos Coronaios, Richard Ford, Johan Moolman, Johan Retief.
Exoplanets: José da Silva – international collaboration in the search for habitable exoplanets and co-authoring a paper on transit timing variation of exoplanet WASP-4b.
Comets & Meteors: Tony Jones, Magda Streicher, Cliff Turk.
Deep-sky: Magda Streicher – 2003.
Occultations: Francois de Jager, Hugh Lund, Magda Streicher.
Solar: Jacques van Delft.
Variable Stars: David L Blane, Fanie De Villiers, Brian Fraser, Cliff Turk, Pieter Wedepohl, John Vincent and Simon Walsh.
History: Greg Roberts.