Here’s how to nominate Scouters for Scouting’s top honor for volunteers

It is time to nominate deserving volunteers for the 2025 Silver Buffalo Award.

The Silver Buffalo Award is Scouting’s highest volunteer commendation. Created in 1925, it is bestowed on those who have given noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth. The service can be national or international, and may or may not be directly connected with Scouting America.

Previous Silver Buffalo awardees have included U.S. presidents, lifelong volunteers and community leaders.

It’s part of what is known as the Silver Family of Scouting America awards. These include the council-level Silver Beaver, territory-level Silver Antelope and national-level Silver Buffalo. Silver Buffalo honorees are bestowed with a red-and-white medal and a square knot for wear on the uniform.

This year’s Silver Buffalo and Silver Antelope recipients were honored at the BSA’s National Annual Meeting this past May in Orlando, Fla.

Silver Buffalo nomination forms with no more than two recommendation letters must be submitted together electronically to the National Service Center at awards@scouting.org no later than Aug. 31, 2024. The candidate should not be notified of this nomination.

When submitting the Silver Buffalo nomination form electronically, please include as much correct and relevant information about the nominee as possible. Incomplete nominations will not be considered. Be sure the nominee’s name is spelled correctly, and highlight all contributions to youth inside and outside of Scouting.

Additional endorsement letters from specific areas may be included, provided they feature detailed explanations of the nominee’s contributions.

The nominations for the Silver Antelope aren’t due until November. Check with your local council about deadlines for the Silver Beaver.