The medal is a small and portable artistic object given as awards for varying purposes. Medal used to be a thin disc mostly made up of metals carrying embossing and other designs on both facets. Medals may be intended to swear on the body, suspended from clothes or jewellery on various occasions.
According to Wikipedia, numismatists divide medals into the following types:
- Awards are given for personal or organisational/team achievements.
- Commemoratives for sale to commemorate individuals or events.
- Souvenirs are similar to commemorative.
- Religious for religious reasons.
- Portraits to memorise a person
- Artistic as an art object
- Society as a badge
However, in practical life, the following are the main categories of medals used in the contemporary era.
Military Medals
Military medals used to award for a variety of achievements in different countries. Therefore, classification or order of military medals is differing nation-to-nation.
- In 1780, United States Continental Congress first time awarded the Fidelity Medallion.
- Just after two years, the Badge of Military Merit established in 1782.
- The Légion d'honneur introduced by Napoleon I in 1802 for bravery and exceptional services.
- British Army Gold Medals started from 1810
- Prussian Iron Cross began from 1813
- Waterloo Medal has given to all participants in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815
Modern orders established in most of the nations in the 19th century.
- The Légion d'honneur of France as military and civil medals.
- The Civil Order of the British Empire
- The Medal of Honour is the highest military medal by the United States Government
Medals of America has a ribbon chart, which sets medals and ribbons in proper order. For instance,
- Army Medal of Honour
- Navy-Marine Corps-Coast Guard Medal of Honour
- Air Force Medal of Honour
The recipients of military medals have to wear the medals in former ceremonies and national celebrations. They used to suspend medals on the left of the breast on the formal uniform.
Sports Medals
Olympic is a worldwide event for sports players, lovers, and enthusiastic. A broad range of sports categories included in the Olympic Games. Therefore, discussing sports means talking about Olympic in other words. So, let’s know about Olympic medals first.
During the ancient Olympic era, it was olive wreath presented to winners. In modern Olympic Games medal awards have started in 1896 first time. The custom of medal sequence of gold, silver, and bronze started for top winners, 1st runner-ups, and 2nd runner-ups.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has setup specifications for sports medals. According to it, the medal must have a minimum diameter of 60 mm and a thickness of 3 mm. Three top competitors will receive medals with following materials respectively.
- Gold medal must compose of silver and at least 0.925 grade 6 grams of gold.
- The silver medal should have all 0.925-grade silver
- Bronze medal consists of 97% copper, 0.5% tin, and 2.5% zinc
Engraving of the name of sports and year of the Olympic event is mandatory for all medals.
IOC also has rights to decide the design specifications for all Olympic medals including Summer Olympic, Winter Olympic, and Paralympic Games.
Apart from Olympic sports medals, other international and national sports events are highly popular and exciting equally to the respective sports players and lovers for the medals. For instance, Wimbledon for tennis, FIFA for football,
Golf Champion for golf, and Stanley for hockey.
Academic Medals
Academy awards famously known as Oscars consist of a set of 24 awards for artists and technicians for out-of-box performance in their respective genre. The first academy award ceremony held in 1929 for a set of 15 awards. Later on, additions took place in numbers.
Besides the Academy Award of Merit (Oscar), other honorary awards presented time-to-time. Technical Achievement Award and Student Academy Awards are annual phenomena.
Oscar statuette is 13.5 inches tall and weighs 8.5 lb. & made of gold-plated bronze situated on a black metallic base. Oscar statuette is greatly symbolic. It has a knight rendered in Art Deco style. It holds a sword on a reel of film with five spokes. These spokes represent, actors, directors, writers, producers, and technicians!
Scholastic Medals:
Since we are talking about academy awards, it is worth to discuss scholastic academic awards presented in day-to-day life to encourage better education in the society. For instance, spelling medals, attendance medals, reading medals, spoken language medals, debate medals, drama medals, music medals, arts/science/commerce like subject-wise medals, and much more possible in this regard.
General Medals:
General purpose medals are suitable for all types of events for government, non-government, and private corporate world. Today corporates are leveraging advantages of medals the most for varying business purposes. For examples,
- To improve productivity, by announcing employee performance medals.
- To encourage creativity, out-of-box idea medal.
- To foster leadership, the best team leader award.
- To boost managing abilities, the best manager medal.
- To nurture marketing capabilities, marketing medals
Conclusion:
Looking for Medal Artists?
In Australia, the Corporate world sees immense opportunities in giving medals and various kinds of awards for a variety of purposes. Therefore, they are always looking for the best medal-creating partner to translate their corporate medal ideas into artistic yet cost-effective reality.
The same goes true for various sports clubs, which are continuously announcing various medals on different sports events taking place in Australia and elsewhere. Educational institutions like colleges and schools are in the same race. They are also constantly inquiring the best medal manufacturers in Australia.
In sum, I would like to suggest these all medal thirsty world to visit Olympia, a leading and establish medal as well as awards and Trophy Maker Company online as well as face-to-face in various locations of Australia.
