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This article is about gold medals as awards or prizes. There is also an article on Gold Medal, an album by The Donnas.

A Congressional Gold Medal award by the United States Congress.

A gold medal generally represents the highest award for achievement in a non-military field, with no restriction on eligibility. The concept comes from the military, initially with a simple recognition of military rank, and later decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times. Since at least the 18th century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts (for example by the Royal Danish Academy), usually as a symbol of a financial award to give an outstanding student some freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Many organizations now award gold medals either annually or extraordinarily, including UNESCO and various academic societies.

Without qualification, the term is likely to refer to a winner's prize at the modern Olympic Games (medals were not awarded at the ancient games). In 1896, winners' medals were in fact silver. The custom of gold-silver-bronze for the first three places dates from the 1904 games and has been copied for many other sporting events. Minting the medals is the responsibility of the host city. From 1928-1968 the design was always the same: the obverse showed a generic design by Florentine artist Giuseppe Cassioli with text giving the host city; the reverse showed another generic design of an Olympic champion. From 1972-2000, Cassioli's design (or a slight reworking) remained on the obverse with a custom design by the host city on the reverse. Noting that Cassioli's design showed a Roman amphitheatre for what was originally a Greek games, a new obverse design was commissioned for the Athens 2004 Games. Winter Olympics medals have been of more varied design. The silver and bronze medals have always borne the same designs.

The award of the gold medal (often coupled with a silver and a bronze medal) has been adopted in many competitive fields, from athetics to music to writing. Typically medals are awarded only to third place, but in some contests, such as International barbershop music contests, bronze medals are awarded for 3rd, 4th, and 5th place.

A gold medal from a Barbershop Quartet International competition.

Most gold medals (including Olympic gold medals) are gold-plated, notable exceptions being the Lorentz Medal, United States Congressional Gold Medal and Nobel Prize winners' medals, which are solid gold.