Overview
Within the Galactic Empire's divisions and institutions, officers at various levels of command are granted medal awarding authority.
Specifics of who may award which medals are contained within individual medal descriptions... This chapter details the proper process by which to request a medal. It is required reading for commanding officers making medal requests, and optional reading for all other officers.
Awarding a Medal
Certain individuals within the Empire are granted medal awarding authority... Similar to "promotion authority", this grants the individual the ability to award a certain range of medals; but un-like promotions, awarding officers must submit their awards for prior review by filing medal requests. A medal request must be approved before annoucement of the award to the recipient. This second-check not only limits inflation, but helps to ensure consistency across many medal awards.
The system of prior-review is not, however, attempting to discourage officers from making medal requests. Medals should be awarded for highly notable services "above and beyond the call of duty", using this Guide to determine the appropriate medal... In short: medals aren't to be given out freely, but if a commanding officer feels a subordinate has earned an award, they should not hesitate to make a request. The final reviewer shall decide if the award is truly warranted.
Please also note that medals may not be requested for one's peers or one's superiors, excepting pre-approved awards for competition victories. When an officer who feels a peer or superior deserves an award for "service above and beyond the call of duty", the correct protocol is not to file a medal request, but rather, a recommendation with the indended recipient's superiors (even up to their Division Commander and/or the Supreme Commander, where warranted).
To file a Medal Request, the awarding officer need utilise the Medal Request facility in GE Administration... The request will automatically be directed to the appropriate reviewing officer. (Division Commanders may review requests up to and including the Silver Seal, for officers in their respective Divisions. Requests for higher Merit Medals are reviewed personally by the Supreme Commander.)
Medal Request Guidelines
As of 2001-10, the Galactic Empire's medal systems maintain public history logs of all approved medal requests. To assist standardisation, the following basic guidelines should be observed by commanding officers when using the Medal Request facility in GE Administration:
- The Reason For Award is limited to 250 characters, and will be databased if the medal request is approved. It should be a terse but specific statement of the merit or merits upon which the medal request is based.
Examples:
- Creating a Beta Squadron website.
- Consistent activity, speedy replies, and newsletter contributions.
- Dedicated service to the VSD Vigilant, including efforts to organise multiplayer operations & innovative new activities.
Again, reasons should be to-the-point, but specific. (A request which simply states a reason of "exemplary service" does not indicate what the service was, and will likely be denied.)
- In the case of competition awards, please use the format:
Competition Name (Score, Section and/or Placing)
Examples:
- Chimaera Competition (Fiction - 1st Place)
- Navy Combat Ladders (XvT - 1st Place)
- STL Round 1 (2nd Place Score)
- Beta Squadron League (3rd Place)
- GE Quest (150+ Points)
- Lamed Competition (Winner for the month of 2001-10)
Competition awards should always mention the recipient's score or placing in addition to the name of the competition.
- If mentioning dates, please use the standard Imperial format of YYYY-MM-DD (or YYYY-MM for months).
- Any additional background/support for the medal request, or information whatosever that you wish to bring to the attention of the reviewing officer, may be placed in the Extra Comments field. Should the medal be approved, the extra comments are not databased, but are present on the outgoing confirmation e-mail.
Additional reading may be found in the
Medal Awarding Theory chapter.