Gold Medal

A Gold Medal is typically the 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 this 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 t give an outstanding student some financial freedom. Other 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 and the Noble Prize medal. Noble Prize medals consist of 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. Before 1980 they were struck in 23 carat gold.

Military Origins:.
     Before the establishment of standard military award e.g.., the Medal of Honor, it was common practice to have a medal specially created to provide national recognition for a significant military or naval victory or accomplishment. In the United States, Congress would enact a resolution asking the president to reward those responsible. The commanding officer would receive a gold medal and his officers silver medals. Other countries similarly honored their military and naval victors in a similar fashion.

Competition Medals:.
       Medals have historically been given as prize in various types of competitive activities, especially athletics.

Traditionally, medals are made of the following metals:.

1. Gold
2. Silver
3. Bronze

These metals designate the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology the Golden Age, when men lived among the gods, the Silver Age, where youth lasted a hundred years, and the Bronze Age, the era of heroes.
The custom of awarding the sequence of gold, silver, and bronze medals for the first three highest achievers dates from at least the 19th century, with the National Association of Amateur Athletes in the United State awarding such medals as early as 1884.
This standard was adopted for Olympic competition at the 1904 summer Olympics.At the 1896 event silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners up while at 1900 other prizes were given, not medals.

Other Gold Medal Awards:.
                     The award of gold medal, often couple with the award of silver and bronze medals to the next place finishers, has been adopted in other competitive fields, such as music and writing. Typically bronze medals are awarded only to third place, but in some contests there is some variety, such as International barbershop music contest where bronze medals are awarded for third, fourth and fifth place.