Queen's Medal for Champion Shot competition in Canada was held for the Canadian Regular Force in 1923 and one King's Medal for Champion Shots in the Military Forces was awarded annually from that year. Beginning in 1963, two medals were awarded in Canada annually, the second to a member of either the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Canadian Reserve Force. A distinct Canadian version of the medal, the Queen's Medal for Champion Shot, was instituted in 1991 and the British version of the medal ceased to be awarded in Canada the following year. Uniquely, it is the only medal in the long list of
Silver Medal for Merit Pro Merito Medal (1975), and the Military Merit Medal. The decoration could be awarded to veteran cadres of the Azanian People's Liberation Army for exceptionally meritorious service and particular devotion to duty during the "struggle". The position of the Silver Medal for Merit in the official military and national orders of precedence was revised upon the institution of a new set of honours on 27 April 2003. The Silver Medal for Merit was struck in silver, to fit in a circle 38 millimetres in diameter. It depicts the Azanian People's Liberation Army emblem in a dark blue enameled roundel, in