At the opening ceremony of the 7th Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP7) taking place from 4-8 December 2018 in Durban, South Africa, the Nature Conservation Sector (NCS) of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Ministry of Environment, was declared the winner of the AEWA Conservation Award in the institutional category, while Mr. Ohad Hatzofe, Avian Ecologist of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, had been declared the winner of the AEWA Conservation Award for the individual category.
In 2009, the United Kingdom proposed the creation of a new award category: the ASCOBANS Lifetime Award, in addition to the Outreach and Education Award first given in 2005.