Gold medal

A gold medal is the highest medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. The award concept arose in the military, initially by simple recognition of military rank, and later by decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times.

Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts, for example, by the Royal Danish Academy, usually as a symbol of an award to give an outstanding student some financial freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Many organizations now award gold medals either annually or extraordinarily, including UNESCO and various academic societies.

While most gold medals are solid gold, notable exceptions are gold-plated and often silver-gilt, like those of the Olympic Games, the Lorentz Medal, the United States Congressional Gold Medal (displayed to the right) and the Nobel Prize medal. Nobel Prize medals consist of 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. Before 1980 they were struck in 23 carat gold.

Gold medal awards

This is a list of articles which include the words Gold Medal in their title.

Awards

For a general introductory article about gold medals, including those awarded at the Olympic Games, see Gold Medal

Science and Engineering

Gold Medal (National Eisteddfod of Wales)

The Gold Medal (Welsh: Medal Aur) of the National Eisteddfod of Wales is awarded annually in three categories for excellence in either Fine Art, Architecture or Craft and Design.

Background

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is Wales' most important national cultural event, taking place annually. Its open exhibition of art and craft, Y Lle Celf (meaning 'The Art Space') is one of the highlights of the Welsh arts calendar. Gold medals are awarded in the Visual Arts section for outstanding contributions in different media: a Gold Medal for Fine Art has been awarded since 1951; a medal for Architecture has been offered since 1954 (though withheld and not awarded between 1954 and 1959) and a Gold Medal for Craft and Design has been awarded since 1985.

Other awards handed out are the Tony Goble Award, given to a first time exhibitor, and the Josef Herman Award, chosen by the public (Josef Herman, a Polish emigree, won the Fine Art medal in 1962).

The Architecture award is given in conjunction with the Design Commission for Wales and the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, who advise the Eisteddfod judges.

Temple Gold Medal

Joseph E. Temple Fund Gold Medal (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded for the best oil painting by an American artist submitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts's annual exhibition. Temple medals were awarded most years from 1883 to 1968. Recipients included James Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri and Edward Hopper.

History

The medal was named for Philadelphia merchant Joseph E. Temple (1811–1880), a patron of the arts and PAFA Board member, whose bequest of $51,000 funded the awards.

Any American artist was welcome to submit works for PAFA's annual exhibitions. Juries in painting and sculpture, composed of PAFA faculty and invited artists, evaluated hundreds (and later thousands) of submissions and chose those for exhibition. The Painters' Jury of Selection also chose the medal winners in painting. An artist could be awarded a Temple medal only once.

In 1883, the first year of the Temple medals, the jury could not agree on a gold medal recipient. A silver medal would have been awarded to William B. T. Trego for The March to Valley Forge, but he refused to accept it. Trego argued that if only one Temple medal was awarded it should be a gold, not a silver (which implied second place).