The Governor General's Academic Medal is awarded to the student graduating with the highest grade point average from a Canadian high school, college or university program. They are presented by the educational institution on behalf of the Governor General. These medals are not part of the Canadian Honours System.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Silveracademic.jpg)
History
editThe medals were created by Lord Dufferin, Canada's third Governor General after Confederation in 1873.
Criteria
editTo maintain a spirit of universality across the country, the medals are awarded on academic marks only, regardless of the less tangible aspects of the student's life,[1] such as good citizenship, moral behaviour and, volunteer and community work. The Chancellery of Honours administers the Governor General's Academic Medal. Canadian citizenship is not a prerequisite for the award.
Famous recipients
editFamous recipients include:
- Robert Bourassa – Premier of Quebec and Quebec Liberal leader
- Andrée-Anne Dupuis-Bourret – French-Canadian artist
- Jean-Claude Bradley – chemist who coined the term Open Notebook Science
- Kim Campbell – federal Progressive Conservative Leader and Prime Minister
- Robert F. Christy – Canadian-American theoretical physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project
- Adrienne Clarkson – journalist and Governor General of Canada
- Tommy Douglas – Premier of Saskatchewan, leader of the CCF and federal NDP
- Sylvia Fedoruk - Physicist, medical physicist, curler and the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan
- Sylvia Hahn – Canadian artist and head of the art department at the Royal Ontario Museum
- W. G. Hardy – Canadian Classics professor, writer, International Ice Hockey Federation president[2]
- Mabel Gweneth Humphreys – 20th-century Canadian-American mathematician[3]
- Nancy Lane Perham – cell biologist at the University of Cambridge
- Rachel Marsden – journalist, Fox News host, and internationally syndicated columnist[4]
- Gabrielle Roy – French-Canadian author, three-time winner
- Duane Rousselle – Canadian Sociologist and Psychoanalyst
- Robert Stanfield – federal Progressive Conservative Leader and Leader of the Opposition
- Pierre Trudeau – Prime Minister of Canada and federal Liberal Party leader
- Jesse Thistle - Author and Assistant Professor
- Paul Vermeersch – Canadian poet
- Dan Kennedy. - Canadian artist Toronto Canada
Categories
editGovernor General's Academic Medals are awarded at four levels.
- Bronze – secondary school level
- Collegiate Bronze – post-secondary, diploma level
- Silver – undergraduate level
- Gold – graduate level
There is no monetary award associated with the Medal.
See also
editExternal links
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Governor General of Canada". 20 September 2017.
- ^ Trimmer, Bob (September 21, 1963). "Prof. George Hardy: Author-Educationist". Lethbridge Herald. Lethbridge, Alberta. p. 5.
- ^ Green, Judy; Laduke, Jeanne (15 January 2016). "Supplementary Material for Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's" (PDF). American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ "Recipients". 11 June 2018.