The Gold Medal

The Gold Medal

The Gold Medal: Established: 1941
Designed by: Lucile Sinclair Douglass, sculptor
Represents: Winged Victory standing upon the arc of the world.

The Society’s highest honor is awarded to a member whose original, innovative, or pioneering contributions are of major significance in understanding the world’s cultures and environment.

SWG Gold Medalists

2022
A person with light hair and glasses speaks into a microphone, wearing a blue lanyard. The background is out of focus.

Mechtild Rössler

For her transformative influence on UNESCO World Heritage during her 30 years within different divisions of UNESCO. 

2017

Constanza Ceruti

For her achievement in high-altitude archaeology, most notably for discovering three preserved Incan mummies in the Andes mountains.

2014
A person in winter clothing photographs snowy Antarctic landscape, with research station buildings visible under a clear sky.

Rebecca Lee Lok-Sze

For her physical exploration of the three Polar Regions-the Arctic, Antarctica, and Mount Everest-to bear scientific witness to warming at the earth's extremes and raise awareness of the global implications for sea levels and climate. Lee also established a museum dedicated to climate change in Hong Kong.

2011

Susan Shaw

For her pioneering research documenting harmful impacts of man-made chemicals on marine life.

2008
A person stands beside a cheetah in an open savannah landscape, with a large termite mound in the background under a clear sky.

Laurie Marker

For her work as a conservation biologist, and for the founding of the non-profit Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, where she also established the International Research and Education Centre in the country's main cheetah habitat.

2005
Two people kneel on a ship's deck examining dark rocks, possibly geological samples, with the ocean in the background.

Tanya Marie Atwater

For her pioneering work in plate tectonics, which has increased the world's knowledge of earth movements from mountaintops to ocean floors.

1999
A person wearing a cowboy hat looks into the distance while sitting on a rocky landscape, surrounded by foliage under a bright sky.

Anna Curtenius Roosevelt

For discovery of evidence of a hitherto unknown prehistoric culture in the Amazon Basin.

1996
A person interacts with three dogs in a snowy outdoor setting, surrounded by trees and a small blue shed.

Pam Flowers

For pioneering achievements as a solo dog-sled trekker in the Arctic, and as the first person to trek the 2,500 miles across Arctic North America, the longest solo dog sled trek by a woman.

Natalie Goodall

For her work in botany and biology studies of flora and fauna native to Tierra del Fuego, South America.

1993
A person smiling while sitting with two German Shepherd dogs on a porch. Casual setting with wooden furniture in the background.

Anne LaBastille

For her work as a wildlands and wildlife consultant, and work with rare and endangered wildlife, wild areas, acid rain, and women in the wilderness, particularly in Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America.

Kathryn Sullivan

For her pioneering nine-day mission into space as a member of the Challenger shuttle crew, becoming the first American woman to "walk" in space.

1990
A person in a wetsuit is partially submerged in calm water, looking directly at the camera with a composed expression.

Sylvia Alice Earle

For achievements as an oceanic biologist, as an experienced, versatile, and intrepid diver, leader and/or pilot of record setting deep water dives in miniature submarines or submersibles.

Jane Goodall

For her pioneering field studies of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.

1987

Freya Stark

For her Middle Eastern explorations into remote cultures and areas, including Euphrates River raft trip, and her books recording them.

1984

Arlene Blum

For mountaineering triumphs, leading the first woman's climbs of Mount McKinley, Garwhal Himalaya Brigupanth, and Annapurna, and reaching 24,000 feet on Mount Everest.

1975

Eugenie Clark

For contributions in Marine biology, expanding knowledge of the reproduction and behavior of sharks.

A person examines ancient footprints in a dry, rocky landscape with sparse trees, using measurement tools and a clipboard for documentation.

Mary Douglas Leakey

For contributions to our knowledge of the evolution of Homo sapiensand his age on earth, in Tanzania's Olduwai Gorge.

A person in red shirt sits on a large, ancient stone face partially buried in the ground with surrounding grass and soil.

Marion Stirling Pugh

For contributions in archeology to the world's knowledge of the Olmec, and discovery of stone "colossal heads", in Central America.

1950
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Irene Wright

For geographic research and contribution to Tudor maritime history, especially 16th century English voyages to the Caribbean.

1944
Two people stand indoors; one holds a flower bouquet and a small object. Both wear formal attire. Background shows framed floral artwork.

Blair Niles

For geographic travels and research presented in published novels and non-fiction books, featuring Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and the Caribbean.

1942
A person smiles with a child on their back in a canoe, guided by another person with a pole on a river.

Margaret Mead

For anthropological research among primitive tribes in Samoa, New Guinea, other South Seas isles.

1933
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Amelia Earhart

For her first woman's solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20, 1932.