In 1992, Hunter was jointly awarded the Meldola Medal and Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is awarded to a British chemist who was under 32 years of age for promising original investigations in chemistry. In 1999, he was jointly awarded the Corday–Morgan Medal and Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is awarded for the most meritorious contributions to chemistry. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), the premier learned society for science in the United Kingdom.