The Boy Scouts of America’s new North Star Award: A Silver Beaver for non-Scouters

The North Star Award
The North Star Award

The Silver Beaver Award has a new cousin.

Last month, the BSA’s National Court of Honor announced the addition of the North Star Award, an honor similar in prestige to the Silver Beaver Award.

The main difference? It’s only available to non-Scouters.

The North Star Award is a way for councils, areas, regions, and the national council to “recognize individuals for significant contributions.”

This could include, for example, someone who contributes land, a certified public accountant who has served the council for years, or someone honored in the Distinguished Citizen Awards program.

Councils, areas, or regions submit this form to the Boy Scouts national office in Irving, Tex., to begin the nomination process.

To recap, there are now four national-level awards of this type:

  • Silver Beaver: Council-level distinguished service to youth
  • Silver Antelope: Regional-level distinguished service to youth
  • Silver Buffalo: National-level distinguished service to youth
  • North Star Award: Distinguished service to youth by a non-Scouter

(Thanks to Scouter J.D. for the tip on this.)


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.