The National GSUSA Lifesaving Awards were created in 1913 to recognize extraordinary bravery and to honor Girl Scouts whose independent actions were essential to a lifesaving rescue. As such, these awards are reserved only for Girl Scouts who initiated and led lifesaving actions or played a critical leadership role in a large rescue situation.
These awards acknowledge a Girl Scout who has saved or attempted to save human life, with or without risk to their own life, and under circumstances that most persons of their age and life experience would not be able to function.
BRONZE CROSS Given for saving a life or attempting to save a life with risk to the candidate’s own life.
MEDAL OF HONOR Given for saving a life or attempting to save a life without risk to the candidate’s own life.
Girl Scouts take action daily to help ensure the health and safety of those around them. Some of these actions have a lifesaving component, yet they are not the actions that were essential to the rescue, and therefore are not able to be considered for national recognition.
It can be difficult to determine whether a Girl Scout’s actions were critical to the lifesaving rescue as each situation is different and many factors must be considered. Councils can help gather the facts, double-check them for accuracy, and help assess whether an act truly merits a Lifesaving Award.
A candidate for any Lifesaving Award must meet all of the Girl Scout Rescuer Criteria, Risk to Life Criteria, and Girl Scout-led Action Criteria.
Volunteers can recognize a girl for acts of heroism for either of these lifesaving awards by filling out the below application:
Please reach out to awards@gsfun.org for further instructions or questions.
