Call Area Awards are issued to Amateur Radio operators who make contacts with each of the active call areas of a given country. Many countries around the world issue callsigns with digits (0-9) that correspond to a specific geographic area.
In most cases a call area award is easier to obtain than one which requires working all political states, provinces, departments or prefectures. For example, Japan’s All Japan Districts (AJD) award (districts meaning call areas here) requires only 10 contacts. In contrast, the Worked All JA award (for prefectures) requires a more hefty 47 QSOs.
Not all countries have 10 call areas. On the lower end of the scale, New Zealand has only 4. To add some difficulty, the Worked All New Zealand award requires a total of 10 contacts with a varying number of QSOs distributed among the call areas, probably based on population. This comes out to four QSOs with ZL1, three QSOs with ZL2, two QSOs with ZL3 and one QSO with ZL4 stations.
A given nation’s call areas could span more than one DXCC country. The Diploma Distritos EA requires contacts with Spain’s nine districts that include the DXCC entities of Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Ceuta & Melilla. That’s not only four separate DXCC countries but also two continents! This award features a handy map showing where each of the call areas reside.
Some countries are not as well organized for a call area award. In the United States, initial callsigns are awarded based on geographic area. However, one is free to move about the country without concern about the call area’s consistency. I now live in California (call area 6) and have thus far kept by KA5WSS callsign originally issued to me in Louisiana. In Argentina, the geographic location of assigned callsigns are based on the first letter of the callsign’s suffix, not its digit. For countries such as these you’ll have to work towards other awards that divide the country up such as Worked All States (US) or Toda La Republica Argentina (Argentina).
Here is a sampling of call area awards from around the world. With perhaps ten, sometimes fewer, QSOs you can earn yourself another certificate for your shack.
| Country | Award | Notes |
| Australia | Worked All Australia Award | FT8DMC |
| Chile | Worked All Chile Call Area | FT8DMC |
| Cuba | Cuba Award | FRC |
| Indonesia | Worked All Indonesia Call Area | ERC |
| Worked Indonesia Call Area | FT8DMC | |
| Worked All Indonesia Award | ORARI | |
| Italy | Worked All Italian Call Area | FT8DMC |
| Japan | All Japan Districts | JARL |
| Worked All Japan Call Area | FT8DMC | |
| New Zealand | Worked All New Zealand Award | FT8DMC |
| South Korea | All Korean Award | KARL |
| Worked All Korea Award | FT8DMC | |
| Spain | Diploma Distritos EA | FT8DMC |
| Venezuela | Diploma YV9 | RCV |