Medalists are selected by the faculty of the School on the basis of lifetime or superior achievement, for distinguished service performed in such lines of journalistic and strategic communication endeavor as shall be selected each year for consideration.

The Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism
The Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism

The annual awards shall not be restricted necessarily to any particular forms of journalistic or strategic communication service, nor will there be, necessarily, any designated number voted annually by the School. The award in each instance shall consist of a bronze medal, uniform in size, of appropriate design, and suitably inscribed with the recipient’s name. Awards shall be made only to those persons who, upon invitation, are present in person to receive them, or in the case of news outlets, agencies and other organizations, when such are represented in person by an official representative.

There have only been two years the award has not been handed out since it was first established in 1930: 2008, when the School celebrated its 100th year anniversary; and in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.