Medal of Merit Award

Hello everyone.  I want to offer one point of clarification on the new procedures for the Medal of Merit.

When the Heroism Medal was reinstated in 2018, the BSA had to re-issue the 'application for Lifesaving and Meritorious Action Awards' and with a couple of glitches, the current version was published October 15, 2019.  The big change for the Medal of Merit, is it is now approved at the council level!  Local councils need only submit completed packets to the National COH with names of recipients to receive the medals.  A very significant change.

If the local council wants to nominate a scout/scouter for the Honor Medal with Crossed Palms, Honor Medal, or Heroism Medal it goes to the National COH for adjudication, but no longer the Medal of Merit.  The process is now much more simplified for this award.

---

That’s too bad. I believe the Metal of Merit previously required approval at some of the highest levels of the organization, and went under more scrutiny.  It was not handed out freely.   This change diminishes the prestige associated with it, as it may be more liberally handed out, because discretion for awarding it is completely left at “the local level”.   Perhaps they should retire the Medal of Merit, or create a new looking style of Medal of Merit, to distinguish between these medals presented to scouts during a less liberal era.

---