ok so i finally hit 100 confirmed on LoTW last week and i'm trying to figure out what the next step is. i know i need to apply through the ARRL but i'm not clear on whether i need to also send physical QSL cards or if LoTW confirmations count on their own. ive been reading the ARRL page for like an hour and its somehow making me more confused not less.

also while im at it - does WAS work the same way? i knocked out 48 states already and i feel like i'm so close but i keep missing Alaska and Hawaii, story of my life. and WAZ, is that a CQ award not ARRL? i keep seeing people mention all three in the same breath and i cant tell which organization runs which.

been licensed about 14 months, mostly HF on a modest wire antenna. any help appreciated, sorry if this is a dumb question

not a dumb question at all, this stuff genuinely is confusing when you first get into it. LoTW credits absolutely count for DXCC, you don't need physical cards as long as the other station uploaded their log too. when you're ready to apply you just go into your LoTW account and there's an option to apply for DXCC directly from there, you pay the fee and the ARRL processes it. pretty painless honestly.

WAS is the same deal, LoTW works fine for that one too. and yeah WAZ is a CQ Magazine award, totally separate organization. you apply to CQ directly for that one and they still do want cards last i checked, though some QSL bureaus can make that easier if youre patient. Alaska and Hawaii always seem to be the holdouts for WAS, you might try watching the DX clusters for /KH6 and /KL7 stations, they pop up more than you'd think especially during contests.

yeah WAZ is definitely CQ, caught me off guard too when I started chasing it. i'm at 37 zones right now and zone 2 is basically my white whale lol. some of those Arctic zones are just brutal to work from here in the midwest.

one thing i'll add - if you ever do want to use paper QSLs for DXCC, you can send them to an ARRL card checker at a hamfest which saves you the hassle of mailing everything in. but honestly if both sides are on LoTW just stick with that, so much easier