Awards & Recognition

About SAME Awards & Recognition

National Awards/Medals Nominations Closed

Thank you for submitting nominations. Next year’s awards portal will open in December 2025.

SAME annually presents medals and awards to individuals and organizations from the public and private sectors in recognition of achievement in support of the A/E/C profession, national security objectives, and the SAME Strategic Plan.

Nominations for this year’s SAME national awards/medals are closed, as of Feb. 3, 2025. Winners will be recognized during the 2025 JETC in Louisville, Ky. (May 13-15).

Additional information about each SAME national award and medal, as well as past recipients, can be found using the tabs below.

Golden Eagle Awards

SAME National Awards – JETC

Recognized during JETC

Post Awards
Industry-Government Engagement Post Award (IGE)	For excellence and leadership in supporting the Society’s Industry-Government Engagement (IGE) Plan
STEM Excellence Post Award	For Excellence and Execution in supporting STEM

Individual Awards
Bliss Medal	For excellence in education and student mentoring
Gerald C. Brown Mentoring Award	For outstanding mentoring efforts from a Fellow
Gibson Veteran Transition Medal	For superior efforts in assisting uniformed personnel transition to the private sector
Goethals Medal	For preeminence in engineering, design or construction
Industry-Government Engagement Individual Award (IGE)	For excellence and leadership in supporting the Society’s Industry-Government Engagement (IGE) Plan
Leader Development Award	For distinguished performance in the area of leader development
Member Recruitment Champion Award	For superior efforts in recruiting new members into the society at the Post level
Paul R. Smith NCO Medal	For outstanding leadership and contributions to military engineering
Post Service Medal	For significant and faithful service to SAME at the Post level
STEM Champion Award (Individual)	For excellence and leadership in supporting STEM
Student Leadership Medal	For outstanding Leadership in support of student professional development and mentoring
Urbahn Medal	For preeminence in architecture
Walter O. Bachus Gold Medal	For SAME lifetime achievement
Young Professional Leadership in Engineering Excellence Award	For achievements of young professionals
Young Professional Medal	For outstanding leadership and accomplishments in support of the SAME mission

Company Awards
J.W. Morris Corporate Member Award (Large Business)	For eminent contributions to SAME by a Sustaining Member organization
Robert B. Flowers Small Business Award	For eminent contributions to SAME by a Small Business Sustaining Member
Seymour S. Greenfield Sustaining Member Award (Medium Company)	For eminent contributions to SAME by a Sustaining Member organization

Miscellaneous
Design Awards	For design excellence in the built environment for planned and constructed works throughout the world
President’s Medal	For outstanding SAME leadership and accomplishment
Toulmin Medal	For most outstanding article written for The Military Engineer by an SAME member

SAME National Awards – SBC

Presented at SB

Small Business Award, Large Business Award and Industry Small Business Advocate Award, PSBLO Award
Small Business Award	For eminent contributions to small business
Large Business Award	For eminent contributions to small business
Industry Small Business Advocate Award	For eminent contributions to small business
Post Small Business Liaison Officer Award	For eminent contributions to small business

Uniformed Service Awards

Please contact your chain of command for information about the Uniformed Service Awards nomination process. SAME provides a formal ceremony for recipients. Uniformed Service Awards Manual.

U.S. Army
Wheeler Medal	For outstanding contributions to military engineering
Sturgis Medal	For outstanding contributions to troop construction and/or base maintenance
Itschner Award	For most outstanding Army engineering company

U.S. Navy
Moreell Medal	For outstanding contribution to military engineering
Shields Medal	For outstanding contributions to facility construction and/or maintenance
Peltier Award	For most outstanding Navy construction battalion
Toner Award	For outstanding contribution to military engineering

U.S. Marine Corps
Outstanding Senior Engineer Officer	For outstanding contributions to military engineering
Outstanding Senior Engineer SNCO	For outstanding contributions to military engineering

U.S. Air Force
Newman Medal	For outstanding contributions to military engineering
Goddard Medal	For outstanding contributions to military engineering, including troop construction, base maintenance and contingency engineering
Curtin Award	For most outstanding Air Force engineering group or squadron

U.S. Coast Guard
Oren Medal	For outstanding contributions to military engineering
Sargent Medal	For outstanding contributions to civil engineering or facilities engineering
Cowart Award	For most outstanding Coast Guard facilities engineering and civil engineering units

U.S. Public Health Service
Green Medal	For outstanding contributions to public health engineering
Hollis Medal	For outstanding contributions to public health engineering
Cumming Award	For most outstanding Public Health Service engineering or science organization

Miscellaneous
David M. Fraser Award	For engineering excellence and leadership by an USMA First Class Cadet

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Colbert Medal	For outstanding contribution to engineering through achievement in design, construction, administration, research, or development
Karo Award	For outstanding contribution in an engineering or scientific field

Best Practices for SAME Awards Nominations

SAME Awards Manual

Society Ball & Awards Gala

People remember the names of kings and presidents. But the names of those who surveyed, engineered, designed and built America—and helped build other nations—do not come quite so easily to mind. Yet the living conditions of people, the expanding world economy and the emergence of global stability are products of the remarkable gifts and the immeasurable contributions of engineers. Each year, SAME presents awards saluting individuals, companies, government agencies and uniformed teams and units whose achievements are making our Society, our private and public organizations, and our lives significantly better today.

The Gold Medal recognizes strong leadership. That’s something I’ve always tried to do. The award is something we should all strive for, but not rest once it is received. It’s just like being inducted into the Academy of Fellows in that you can’t sit back once you get there, but instead, stay active and relevant to the Society. There’s still so much more we can do to give back.
Col. Ronald Torgerson, P.E., PMP, CHPP, F.SAME, USAF (Ret.), 2017 Walter O. Bachus Gold Medal Recipient