Lilienthal Gliding Medal
Lilienthal Gliding Medal – the highest soaring award in the world, established by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1938 in honor of Otto Lilienthal, a German pioneer of human aviation. It aims "to reward a particularly remarkable performance in gliding, or eminent services to the sport of gliding over a long period of time". The award is made at the annual FAI General Conference. Medal was designed by Austrian artist Josef Humplik.
The first winner of the Lilienthal Gliding Medal in the world was Tadeusz Góra for his record-breaking 577.8-kilometer flight on May 18, 1938, glider PWS-101 from Bezmiechowa to Soleczniki.
The Medal is awarded by a vote of the Delegates to the International Gliding Commission at the annual Plenary in March. In 2012 it was decided to end the practice of awarding the Medal for accomplishments of the previous calendar year, and to associate the Medal with the year in which the recipient is determined. Consequently, the year 2013 does not appear in the table below.
Recipients
Recipients of this award, from 1938 to present, include:| Year | Recipient | Notes |
| 1938 |  Tadeusz Góra | for a goal flight of 577 kilometers |
| 1948 |  Per-Axel Persson | |
| 1949 |  John C. Robinson | |
| 1950 | William S. Ivans | - |
| 1951 |  Marcelle Choisnet-Gohard | |
| 1952 | Charles Atger | |
| 1953 |  Victor Iltchenko | Flight of 520 miles, a world two-seater record, from Moscow to Stalingrad |
| 1954 |  Philip Wills | |
| 1955 |  Joachim Küttner | |
| 1956 | Paul MacCready | |
| 1957 |  Don Luis Vicente Juez Gomez | |
| 1958 | Wolf Hirth | |
| 1959 | Richard Schreder | |
| 1960 | Pelagia Majewska | |
| 1961 |  Adolph Gehriger | |
| 1962 | Paul Bikle | |
| 1963 | Heinz Huth | |
| 1964 | Alvin H. Parker | |
| 1965 | Edward Makula | |
| 1966 | Anne Burns | |
| 1967 | Lennart Stahlfors | |
| 1968 |  Alejo Williamson | |
| 1969 | Eric Nessler | |
| 1970 | Hans-Werner Grosse | |
| 1971 | Karl Striedieck | |
| 1972 | Jan Wróblewski | twice World Champion, 1965 Open and 1972 Standard Class |
| 1973 | Ann Welch | |
| 1974 | August Hug | |
| 1975 | Adela Dankowska | for her world records & winning the 1975 International Women's Gliding Competition |
| 1976 |  Louis A. de Lange | |
| 1977 | George B. Moffat, Jr. | |
| 1978 | Helmut Reichmann | |
| 1980 |  Hans Wolf | |
| 1981 | George Lee | World gliding champion on three consecutive occasions |
| 1982 | Hans Nietlispach | |
| 1984 |  C.E. Wallington | |
| 1985 |  Sholto Hamilton Georgeson | |
| 1986 | Dick Johnson | |
| 1987 |  Juhani Horma | |
| 1988 | Ingo Renner | |
| 1990 | Fred Weinholtz | |
| 1991 | Raymond W. Lynskey | |
| 1992 | Franciszek Kępka | |
| 1993 | Bernald S. Smith | |
| 1994 | Terrence Delore | |
| 1995 |  Tor Johannessen | |
| 1997 | Manfred Reinhardt | |
| 1998 | Oran Nicks | |
| 1999 |  Hana Zejdova | |
| 2000 | Klaus Ohlmann | |
| 2001 | James M. Payne | |
| 2002 | John Hamish Roake | |
| 2003 |  Piero Morelli | |
| 2004 | Janusz Centka | |
| 2005 | Ian Strachan | |
| 2006 | Alan Patching | |
| 2007 | Derek Piggott | |
| 2008 | Roland Stuck | |
| 2009 | Ross Macintyre | |
| 2010 | Reiner Rose | |
| 2011 | Giorgio Galetto | |
| 2012 | Bob Henderson | |
| 2014 | Not awarded | |
| 2015 | Loek Boermans | |
| 2016 | Rainer Wienzek | |
| 2017 |  Patrick Pauwels | |
| 2018 | Not awarded | |
| 2019 |  Dick Bradley | |
| 2020 | Gisela Weinreich |