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