The Founder's Award is the highest honor a lodge can bestow on a member. It is given to those members who display the dedication of the Order of the Arrow founders, Dr. E. Urner Goodman and Col. Carroll Edson. The lodge can give one award for every 500 members or fraction thereof. The following inscription on the award medallion describes the spirit of the award: "For he who serves his fellows is, of all his fellows, greatest."
Introduced at the 1981 National Order of the Arrow Conference, the Founder's Award was created to honor and recognize those Arrowmen who have given outstanding service to their lodge. The award is reserved for an Arrowmen who demonstrates to fellow Arrowmen that he or she memorializes in his or her everyday life the spirit of achievement as described by founder E. Urner Goodman and cofounder Carroll A. Edson.
The Award is a handsome bronze medallion bearing the likenesses of E. Urner Goodman and cofounder Carroll A. Edson, with wooden base and brass plate suitable for engraving. Also available is a special Founder's Award arrow ribbon, with a gold colored arrow suspended from a red ribbon.
1982 Douglas R. Aupperle and A.C. "Butch" Bouvier
1983 Douglas N. Heller and H. Neal Sievers
1984 Nathan Hunt and J.J. Johnston
1985 Richard A. Anderson and Robert G. Moriarty
1986 Bruce Hietbrink and Donald L. Nagel
1987 Brian Grantham and Gene Spicka
1988 Douglas Lang, Stephen Becker, and Dennis Robinson'
1989 Lance Hardisty, Ron La Croix, Sr., Mark Rabick, and Ralph Violett
1990 Dwight Grantham, Donald Roden, and David W. Varney
1991 Daniel Boucher, Chad Hardisty, Hans Kelpe, Harold Meyer', and Ryan Robinson'
1992 Corey Campbell, C. David Hughes, and Richard L. Reeve
1993 Henry Rahlfs, Jr. and Lloyd Roitstein
1994 Sterling R. Franck and Chad Lorenz
1995 Lawrence F. Chandler, Jr., James Clarke, Jonathan Fast
1996 Mark E. Dreiling, Pegeen Fast, and Jay Graves
1997 Travis Brown, Craig Gochenour, Aaron Kreager, and Michael Mann
1998 Geoffrey Kline, Thomas Lima, David Markley, and Jeremy Robinson,
1999 David Niedergeses, Jake Robertson, and Joe Scherrer
2000 Mike Brown, Patrick Dowse, Dick Kreager, and Mike Scharibillig
2001 Chris Brooks, Brian Logeman, Tim Robertson, and James Wingert
2002 Drew Dougherty, D.J. Hubbard, Jim Kirby, and Rick Niedergeses
2003 Evan Lima, Brad Milacek, Jim Taylor, and Stephen Wilke
2004 Douglas Carlson, Arnold Martin, Josh Oehlerking, and Eric Svingen
2005 Joseph E. James, Wesley G. Kreun, Ben Nachman, and Rod Van Horn
2006 Marty Nachman, David Olsen, Jake Olsen, and Ross Olsen,
2007 Jacob Carlson, Frank Ibero, Evan Wilke, and John Yates
2008 Jim Jourdon, Lev Nachman, Justin Williams, and Randy Yates
2009 Drew Bonge, Spencer Cardwell, Seth Johnson, and Brandon Raddish
2010 Jordan Wyatt, Vince Cummings Jr., and Zack Sinsheimer