Schmidt has received the Australian Governments Malcolm McIntosh Prize in 2000, Harvard University's Bok Prize in 2000, the Australian Academy of Science's Pawsey Medal Medal in 2001, and the Vainu Bappu Medal of the Astronomical Society of India in 2002. He was the Marc Aaronson Memorial Lecturer in 2005, and in 2006, he shared the Shaw Prize in Astronomy with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter.