ok so im relatively new, been licensed about 8 months and ive been hearing people talk about DXCC and WAS and WAZ and i honestly wasnt sure if these were all part of the same program or totally separate things you pursue independently. i finally sat down and tried to read through the ARRL award pages and i think i kind of get it but i still have some questions.

so from what i understand DXCC is about confirmed contacts with 100 different entities which are not exactly countries but like close enough, and WAS is worked all states which is pretty self explanatory, and WAZ is worked all zones which is the 40 CQ zones worldwide. and you can pursue all three at the same time i think? like the same contact could count toward more than one award if the entity and zone and state all line up?

what i dont really understand is the credit submission process. do you have to wait until you have all 100 or all 40 zones or whatever before you submit, or can you submit in batches as you go? and with LoTW being the main thing now does a paper QSL card still work for credit or is that basically obsolete at this point? ive gotten a few cards via the bureau and wasnt sure if i should even bother sending them in or just wait for LoTW confirmations to stack up. sorry if this is a really basic question, i tried googling but kept getting old forum posts from like 2009

yeah they're all completely separate programs and you absolutely can chase them simultaneously, same QSO can count toward multiple awards as long as the contact meets the criteria for each one. like if you work a station in Wyoming that happens to be in CQ zone 4 and they're a US entity, that contact could tick boxes for WAS (Wyoming), DXCC (well, W entities count but for DXCC you need foreign entities so maybe a bad example), and WAZ zone 4 all at once. you get the idea.

on the submission thing - no you definitely dont have to wait until you hit 100 or 40 or whatever. LoTW credits accumulate automatically as your contacts get confirmed, and you can apply for the award once you hit the threshold. i usually check my totals every few weeks and its honestly kind of addicting watching the zone count creep up.

paper QSLs are still 100% valid for DXCC credit, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. you submit them through an ARRL card checker or at a hamfest where they do on-site checking. LoTW is just way more convenient and faster. i'd say if someone sends you a card for a rare entity that you dont have LoTW confirmation for, absolutely hang onto it and get it checked. for the common stuff LoTW is probably fine to just wait on.

went through this same confusion about a year ago haha. one thing that helped me was just picking ONE award to focus on first rather than trying to track everything at once. i started with WAS because working all 50 states felt more achievable than 100 entities when i was still figuring out propagation and all that. once i got that i kind of naturally had a bunch of DXCC credits already piling up anyway from working DX during contests and stuff.

the LoTW thing - both count but LoTW is just so much easier. some of the older DXers and especially guys in certain parts of the world still prefer cards though so dont throw them out