Broad discretion was used while determining the groups for this award, however, the final
decision as to what would be counted as a group was decided by the award committee. The intent 
was to have a finite number of groups, but enough in number to create a challenging award. 
Following are the standards used to help create the island groups.

1. If a county has more than 30 islands, then the county was considered to be a group all by 
itself.

2. Islands that were in counties that have more than 30 islands, and that were considered 
significant islands were made into their own group. Whether the size of the island is 
considered significant is subject to the discretion of the award committee.

3. Islands that were considered "difficult to reach" by the award committee were also given 
consideration and some were considered to be individual groups. This was done to make the award
challenging and promote remote operations from some of the more "exotic" locations.

4. The islands that qualify can be found in fresh and salt water, including islands found in lakes,
rivers, and streams that are found in the list compiled by the United States Geological Survey
(USGS).

	It should be clear that no islands other than those found to be islands by the USGS will 
count as an island for this award. The committee admits that there may be islands that are 
excluded from the award which are truly islands, however in order to make this a manageable and 
self-limiting award, the award committee has decided to only use islands that are defined by the
USGS. The award committee will be considered the final authority when deciding if an island 
should count for this award.


 ALABAMA           ALASKA          ARIZONA         ARKANSAS        CALIFORNIA 

 COLORADO          CONNECTICUT     D.C.            DELAWARE        FLORIDA         
 
 GEORGIA           HAWAII          IDAHO           ILLINOIS        INDIANA  
 
 IOWA              KANSAS          KENTUCKY        LOUISIANA       MAINE    

 MARYLAND          MASSACHUSETTS   MICHIGAN        MINNESOTA       MISSISSIPPI

 MISSOURI          MONTANA         NEBRASKA        NEVADA          NEW HAMPSHIRE

 NEW JERSEY        NEW MEXICO      NEW YORK        NORTH CAROLINA  NORTH DAKOTA

 OHIO              OKLAHOMA        OREGON          PENNSYLVANIA    RHODE ISLAND 

 SOUTH CAROLINA    SOUTH DAKOTA    TENNESSEE       TEXAS           UTAH       

 VERMONT           VIRGINIA        WASHINGTON      WEST VIRGINIA   WISCONSIN 

 WYOMING