How to Get the Congressional Award, Step by Step

The Congressional Award is the highest honor that a member of Congress can give to a young civilian. Congress created it by law in 1979. It is not partisan, it is not a competition, and there is no minimum GPA. You do not compete against anyone. You set goals, you do the work, and you get the award.

Most students who start it never finish. The rules are not hard, but a few of them catch people late, after they have already done months of work. This guide walks through the whole process in order so that does not happen to you.

Who can earn it

You can register when you are 13½ years old. You can submit your first application at 14. You must finish all of your activities before your 24th birthday.

The four program areas

Every level of the award needs goals in all four areas:

1. Voluntary Public Service. Unpaid service that helps your community. Tutoring kids, working at a food bank, helping at a library.
2. Personal Development. Getting better at something. An instrument, a language, coding, art, leadership.
3. Physical Fitness. A fitness goal outside of gym class. Running, swimming, a school sport, physical therapy.
4. Expedition or Exploration. A trip that takes you out of your normal routine. Camping, hiking, exploring a new city. There is also a virtual option.

One activity can only count in one area. If you count soccer for Physical Fitness, you cannot also count it for Personal Development.

The levels

There are six levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold Certificates, then Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals. The levels stack. Hours you log for the Bronze Certificate also count toward every level above it. You can also skip levels and go straight for a medal.

The Silver Medal, for example, needs 200 hours of service, 100 hours of personal development, 100 hours of fitness, at least 12 months of activity in each of those three areas, and a 3-day, 2-night expedition. See the full requirements table for every level.

Step 1: Find an Advisor before you register

Your Advisor is an adult who helps you set goals and signs off on your application at the end. It can be a teacher, a coach, a neighbor, or a club sponsor. It cannot be a parent, a relative, or a friend your own age.

Ask your Advisor first, then register. The program wants the Advisor to agree before you sign up. We wrote a whole guide on how to find a Congressional Award Advisor, because this is the step where most students get stuck. If you tutor with Learn To Be and are going for the Silver or Gold Medal, we act as your Advisor for the service part.

Step 2: Register

Register at congressionalaward.org. The day you register is your Activity Start Date. Nothing you did before that day counts. Not the 80 hours you volunteered last summer, not the marathon you ran last spring. This is the single most common mistake, so register as early as you can.

Step 3: Set a goal in each area

Work with your Advisor to write one goal for each area. Good goals are specific and challenging for you. "Tutor a 4th grader in reading twice a week and help her move up one reading level" is a good service goal. "Volunteer more" is not.

Step 4: Do the work and log it

Keep a log of every activity: the date, what you did, and how many hours. A few rules to know:

• A month only counts if you log at least 1 hour in that area that month. The months do not need to be back to back.
• You can count at most 8 hours in one day.
• Anything you get paid for, or get class credit for, or that fulfills a graduation requirement, does not count.
• For service, at least 75% of your hours must be direct service, meaning time spent actually helping people. Planning, training, and fundraising can be at most 25%.

Logging is where students burn out. Keeping a spreadsheet for two years is tedious. This is one reason we like tutoring for the service area: if you tutor with Learn To Be, every session is logged for you automatically.

You can check how close you are at any time with our free Congressional Award hour tracker.

Step 5: Get your validations

When you finish a goal, send a validation form to your Validator for that goal. A Validator is an adult who saw your work, like your coach for fitness or the volunteer coordinator for service. Send the forms only after you finish the activities. Your Advisor signs last, after all the Validators.

Step 6: Submit your Record Book

You submit everything online through the program's Record Book. Reviews usually take 6 to 8 weeks. Most students get asked to fix or explain something, so do not panic if you get a revision request. If you add hours after your Validators signed, you need to send their forms again.

Gold Medal applications have a deadline. To be part of a given year's Gold Medal ceremony, you must submit by February 1 and finish revisions by March 15.

Step 7: Get your award

Certificates arrive by email. Medals are presented by your member of Congress, sometimes at a local event. Gold Medalists are invited to a ceremony in Washington, D.C. each summer.

Where to start today

If you are 13½ or older, do two things this week. Ask an adult to be your Advisor, then register. Every day you wait is a day of activity that will not count.

If you need a service activity that counts, is flexible, and logs your hours for you, become a volunteer tutor with Learn To Be. You tutor a kid online, for free, and you change how that kid sees school.