"Is the Public Education Service Award awarded automatically after it is entered in AUXINFO or does the FC need to send in an award request?"

The Service Awards for Public Education, Operations and VSC's are automatically created after the proper number of hours is recorded in AuxData.  This is done at the DIRAUX office, and may be done on a monthly, quarterly, etc basis by the DIRAUX office.  Verification of the Recruiting Service Award is done by the DSO-HR. 

See the Auxiliary Manual, Chapter 11, Section A.11.f.(4) for more information on the required data.