diff --git a/ansible_runner/display_callback/callback/awx_display.py b/ansible_runner/display_callback/callback/awx_display.py
index 79a56f9cd..ce8b84251 100644
--- a/ansible_runner/display_callback/callback/awx_display.py
+++ b/ansible_runner/display_callback/callback/awx_display.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 
 
 def current_time():
-    return datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+    return datetime.datetime.utcnow().replace(tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
 
 
 # use a custom JSON serializer so we can properly handle !unsafe and !vault
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def get_begin_dict(self):
             event_dict['project_update_id'] = int(os.getenv('PROJECT_UPDATE_ID', '0'))
         event_dict['pid'] = event_data.get('pid', os.getpid())
         event_dict['uuid'] = event_data.get('uuid', str(uuid.uuid4()))
-        event_dict['created'] = event_data.get('created', datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat())
+        event_dict['created'] = event_data.get('created', current_time().isoformat())
         if not event_data.get('parent_uuid', None):
             for key in ('task_uuid', 'play_uuid', 'playbook_uuid'):
                 parent_uuid = event_data.get(key, None)
diff --git a/ansible_runner/runner.py b/ansible_runner/runner.py
index df5e01a9a..fa1db097f 100644
--- a/ansible_runner/runner.py
+++ b/ansible_runner/runner.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def event_callback(self, event_data):
 
                 # prefer 'created' from partial data, but verbose events set time here
                 if 'created' not in event_data:
-                    event_data['created'] = datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat()
+                    event_data['created'] = datetime.datetime.utcnow().replace(tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc).isoformat()
 
                 if self.event_handler is not None:
                     should_write = self.event_handler(event_data)
diff --git a/test/unit/test_runner.py b/test/unit/test_runner.py
index ed42e5879..e35455367 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_runner.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_runner.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import codecs
+import datetime
 import os
 
 import json
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ def test_verbose_event_created_time(rc):
     assert exitcode == 0
     for event in runner.events:
         assert 'created' in event, event
+        assert datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(event['created']).tzinfo == datetime.timezone.utc
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('value', ['abc123', six.u('Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn')])