diff --git a/frontend/src/App.tsx b/frontend/src/App.tsx
index b549935..808e909 100644
--- a/frontend/src/App.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/App.tsx
@@ -3867,18 +3867,6 @@ export default function App() {
         email:   d.email   || last.email || '',
         web:     d.web     || last.web || '',
         qsl_via: d.qsl_via || last.qsl_via || '',
-        // An island reference from the callbook becomes an IOTA award reference
-        // on the entry, exactly like one picked by hand.
-        //
-        // QRZ carries <iota> for an operator on an island and OpsLog read past
-        // it. That matters more for IOTA than it would for another award:
-        // unlike POTA there is no live "who is on an island right now" feed
-        // anywhere, so the callbook record is the practical source — and it is
-        // known BEFORE the contact is logged, which is when it is useful.
-        //
-        // Only when the operator has not set one already: a reference typed or
-        // picked by hand outranks a callbook that may be years out of date.
-        award_refs: withIOTARef(d.award_refs ?? '', String((r as any)?.iota ?? '')),
       };
     });
     if (adoptLastGrid || last.grid || last.lat) setMapZoomSignal((n) => n + 1);
@@ -3946,6 +3934,24 @@ export default function App() {
         email:   d.email   || (r.email ?? ''),
         web:     d.web     || (r.web ?? ''),
         qsl_via: d.qsl_via || (r.qsl_via ?? ''),
+        // An island reference from the callbook becomes an IOTA award reference
+        // on the entry, exactly like one picked by hand.
+        //
+        // QRZ carries <iota> for an operator on an island and OpsLog read past
+        // it. That matters more for IOTA than it would for another award:
+        // unlike POTA there is no live "who is on an island right now" feed
+        // anywhere, so the callbook record is the practical source — and it is
+        // known BEFORE the contact is logged, which is when it is useful.
+        //
+        // Only when the operator has not set one already: a reference typed or
+        // picked by hand outranks a callbook that may be years out of date.
+        //
+        // This belongs HERE, on the provider result, and not in the backfill
+        // from the last QSO where it first went: that runs only when there IS a
+        // previous contact with the call, so the island appeared for stations
+        // already in the log and never for the new one on the island — which is
+        // the entire point of the feature.
+        award_refs: withIOTARef(d.award_refs ?? '', String((r as any)?.iota ?? '')),
       }));
       // Backfill anything the provider didn't supply from the last time we worked
       // this call (call not found on QRZ/HamQTH, or lookup off → cty.dat only).