Please refer to the Roll of Honour for recipients. Awards made by Croquet England are as follows, see below for the background to these awards:

• Major Awards:
  • Council Medal (or its successor)
  • Bernard Neal Award
• The Croquet England Diploma
• Other Awards:
  • Individual and Club Awards
  • Honorary Members and Vice-Presidents

Major Awards (Council Medal and Bernard Neal Award)

Nominations for these Major Awards, accompanied by a citation of no more than 500 words, should be sent in confidence to the Secretary and they should not specify whether they are for a Council Medal (or its successor) or a Bernard Neal Award, just that they should be considered for a Major Award. The Awards Panel will consider each nomination and make a recommendation to the Trustees, normally at the March meeting, if it believes that a Major Award is appropriate.

The Council Medal (or its successor)

Croquet England may award, from time to time, its Council Medal (or its successor) to a Croquet England Subscriber in recognition of outstanding service to the work of Croquet England and/or the development of Croquet within the domain.

The primary criterion for this award is an exceptional contribution to Croquet which has, or will have, a significant and lasting impact on the administration or playing of the sport.

It is not an award for long service; for playing ability; nor for outstanding contributions to a Club or Federation.

The bar for this award is high, so it is not made annually but only when a sufficiently meritorious candidate emerges.

The Council Medal (or its successor) is not normally awarded posthumously but may be if the Trustees consider this to be appropriate.

The Bernard Neal Award for Exceptional Services to Croquet

This award has been titled so that in years to come members can be reminded of the many outstanding contributions to the sport made by Bernard Neal who died in 2016. He was President of The Croquet Association from 2004-2009.

The eligibility criteria that need to be met for this award are:

• It is awarded to Croquet England Subscribers for outstanding contributions made to croquet in the domain.
• Such contributions are considered to be substantially greater than those qualifying for a Croquet England Diploma but do not rank as high as the truly exceptional services required for a Council Medal. It is not purely an award for long service.
• The bar for this award is high so it may not be made every year.

The award will usually be a glass vase but this may be varied if there are exceptional reasons that make another design more appropriate for the recipient. It will have a suitable engraving that may be on a plinth.

The Croquet England Diploma

Croquet England Diplomas recognise members of Affiliated Clubs (and not just Croquet England Subscribers) who have given outstanding service to croquet and have been active in club or federation affairs over a long period. The Diplomas have nothing to do with croquet prowess and everything to do with the help given to other members.

The President normally presents these awards at the AGM, although recipients may elect to receive their Croquet England Diploma on another occasion.

The award is made only once to any person and is not normally made posthumously unless there are surviving family members who would appreciate it.

The full citation for those awarded a Croquet England Diploma will be published on the website, with a summary in the Gazette.

Nominations can be made by clubs or federations and should be:

• sent by email to the office by the end of July comprising:
  • a short citation (300 words max.)
  • a passport-style photograph, if available (as a separate attachment named as the nominee)
  • a declaration that the submitter is not aware of any reason why such an award could bring the Organisation into disrepute
• The office will consolidate the citations into a draft web page (including the photographs) ready for review by the Awards Panel

The Awards Panel will normally approve all nominations meeting the above criteria but some may be declined if felt to be of insufficient merit or deferred if too many are submitted by the same club in any year. After vetting is complete, the office will:

1. Inform the nominator that the nomination is successful and ask them if they want to inform the Croquet England Diploma winner or if they want the office to do it (some Clubs and Federations like to make it a surprise and award the certificate themselves).
2. Send the certificates to the President for signing who then passes them on to the Chair of Trustees to sign and return to the office ready for distribution at the Croquet England AGM (when held at a venue) or at local events according to feedback from step 1.
3. According to feedback from step 1, inform the Croquet England Diploma winners telling them that the Croquet England President will recognise them at the AGM and, if needed, send out the certificates either to the recipient or the nominator.
4. Publish in full the Croquet England Diploma winners' citations on the Croquet England website soon after the AGM. The content of this page is used by the President for citations read at the AGM and publication in the Gazette.

Other Awards

Individual and Club Awards

There are a range of other individual awards, mainly for coaching and playing achievements, which are made by the Coaching and Handicap Committees respectively. These include the merit, most improved player and coaching awards. Also, biennial Club awards are made by the Sports Development Committee.

Honorary Members and Vice-Presidents

These exceptional awards are for persons who have rendered special services to Croquet England, normally on a national basis, and in one or more of the official posts recognised by Croquet England. The Awards Group makes nominations and submits them to the Board of Trustees. Approved cases are then submitted to an AGM for election.

Background and History

In February 1998 the Executive Committee of the CA considered how services to The Croquet Association (now Croquet England) should be recognised. It recommended to the Council (the body then responsible for the organisation) that a Council Medal be instituted for presentation to those members who had given outstanding services to The Croquet Association. Following Council agreement, in July 1998 the Executive Committee considered the criteria for the award of the Council Medal. It decided (a) it would not be practicable to set definitive criteria for the Award; (b) that each proposal should be considered on its merits; and (c) the normal procedure would be for the Executive Committee to recommend to Council names of prospective recipients. In 2010 the eligibility criterion was changed from "services to the Croquet Association" to "services to Croquet".

The March 2017 the Council asked the Executive Committee "to review the range of awards available and establish clear procedures for soliciting nominations and criteria for making them."

Its recommendations were adopted at the Council meeting held on 21st October 2017. They were revised at the meeting held on 25th January 2020, in light of the abolition of the Executive Committee following the governance changes. The Executive Committee was replaced as the body to consider recommendations for awards by a group appointed by the Council, consisting of the President, the Secretary and a past holder of the Council Medal (the Awards Group, now Awards Panel).

Further revisions were made by the Council on 16 May 2020 when a new major award was established: The Bernard Neal Award for exceptional services to croquet. The Council also determined that this award and the Council Medal should be titled "Major Council Awards" to differentiate them from Croquet England Diplomas.

In 2017 Council approved the above Council Medal award criteria and procedures.

In 2024, The Croquet Association became Croquet England, the Board of Trustees replaced the Council, and the awards were renamed except the historic title Council Medal was retained pending a decision on whether to rename it.