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Society Awards

gold medal with face of Charles Lyell

The Geological Society has conferred awards since 1831, when its senior medal, the Wollaston, was first awarded to William Smith. Recipients of our Awards, Medals and Funds are selected based upon criteria that includes making a significant contribution to scientific research or to applied and economic geology, or eminent contributions to any branch of geology or distinction in the practice of geology.

The following is a list of our Society Awards, Medals and Funds. A full description and a list of past winners since 1831 can be found by clicking on the name of each award.

Career Achievement Awards

Service and/or Outreach Awards

Mid-Career Awards

Early Career Funds

  • Wollaston Fund: noteworthy published research in either or both 'pure' and 'applied' aspects of the science
  • Lyell Fund: noteworthy published research in soft rock studies
  • Murchison Fund: noteworthy published research in hard rock studies
  • William Smith Fund: excellence in contributions to applied and economic aspects of geoscience
  • President's Awards: significant early career promise and future leader potential

Nominations for Society Awards 2025

Nominations are now being accepted for our 2025 Society Awards.

If you wish to submit a nomination for the 2025 Society Awards, please refer to our Awards Medals and Funds Brochure for guidance on how to nominate and for full details of each award, medal and fund.

Links to the nominations forms are found below. These are online forms and you can save and resume at any time.

Society Awards nomination form

Early Career Funds nomination form

President's Awards nomination form

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for details on how we collect, store and process your personal data.

If you have any queries, please contact the Awards Secretary at [email protected]

The closing date for nominations is Monday 14 October 2024.

Award Winners 2024

The full list of our 2024 Award Winners can be found here.

To read more, please see our press release.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility in our Awards, Medals and Funds

We are committed to supporting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (EDIA) across the Society, and since 2020 have made it a priority to help encourage and celebrate equity and inclusion through our awards programme.

We have been taking steps to review and amend our procedures and regulations to support this priority. In 2022, our Council approved a new working group with the aim of generating best practice recommendations to ensure that the Society's values and recognition process delivers maximum impact for the Earth Sciences community and wider society.

The working group is tasked with reflecting on various aspects of our awards process and recommending changes where necessary. In 2023, a Chair was appointed to work alongside our Higher Education and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Lead, our Vice President (EDI), and our Director of Science & Engagement to move this project forward.

Anyone who is interested in finding out more, contributing to the aims of the working group, or being part of our Awards & Grants Committee should contact [email protected].

Award citations and replies


Awards, medals and funds brochure

Awards Brochure

See our awards brochure for more information on the Society's awards, funds and medals.

Contact the Awards Secretary

[email protected]

The Geological Society
Burlington House
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London W1J 0BG