Congressional Award Requirements: Bronze, Silver, and Gold

The Congressional Award has six levels. Three are certificates and three are medals. Each level needs goals in all four program areas. This page puts every requirement in one place.

Certificates

Level	Service	Personal development	Physical fitness	Expedition
Bronze Certificate	30 hours	15 hours	15 hours	1 day
Silver Certificate	60 hours	30 hours	30 hours	2 days
Gold Certificate	90 hours, 6 months	45 hours, 6 months	45 hours, 6 months	3 days

The Bronze and Silver Certificates have no month requirement.

Medals

Level	Service	Personal development	Physical fitness	Expedition
Bronze Medal	100 hours, 7 months	50 hours, 7 months	50 hours, 7 months	2 days, 1 night
Silver Medal	200 hours, 12 months	100 hours, 12 months	100 hours, 12 months	3 days, 2 nights
Gold Medal	400 hours, 24 months	200 hours, 24 months	200 hours, 24 months	5 days, 4 nights

Medal expeditions must be one trip with back-to-back days and nights.

The levels stack

Hours carry up. If you log 100 service hours, those count for every level that needs 100 or fewer. You can submit at each level as you go, or you can skip ahead and apply for a higher level directly. The program suggests submitting a lower level first so you find out early whether your goals are approved.

How months work

This is the rule students misread most.

• A month counts if you log at least 1 hour in that area during that month.
• The months do not need to be back to back. A month with no activity is simply skipped.
• Months are counted per area. January counts once for fitness, even if you did two fitness activities in January.
• The month number is a minimum, not a deadline. "12 months" for the Silver Medal means 12 different months with activity, not "finish within 12 months."

So 26 service hours spread over 4 months is 4 months, not 7, no matter how long ago you started.

Other rules that apply to every level

• Nothing before you register counts. Your Activity Start Date is the day you register.
• No double dipping. One activity counts in one area only.
• At most 8 hours per day.
• No paid work, class credit, or graduation requirements.
• At least 75% of service hours must be direct service. Planning, training, and fundraising can be at most 25%.
• Age. Register at 13½, submit from 14, finish before your 24th birthday.

See where you stand

Enter your hours and months in our free Congressional Award hour tracker. It shows which levels you have met and exactly what is left for the next one.

The fastest way to fill the service column

Service is the biggest number at every medal level. Tutoring with Learn To Be is a steady way to earn it: you tutor a kid online once or twice a week, which keeps every month active, and every session is logged for you. Apply to be a volunteer tutor.