Silver medal Silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives a gold medal and the third place a bronze medal. More generally, silver is traditionally a metal sometimes used for all types of high-quality medals, including artistic ones. In 1896, winners' medals were in fact silver. The custom of gold-silver-bronze for the first three places dates from the 1904 games and has been copied for
A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize The A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in commemoration of Alan Arnold Griffith. The award was established by the Materials Science Club of Great Britain in 1965, two years after its formation in 1963. Modern materials science as an integrated discipline (as distinct from single-material studies such as metallurgy) was in its infancy, and the Materials Science Club was a 'gathering place' for this new field of applied science. In 1985 it was merged into the Institute of Metals, which in turn became