Instituted in 1878, the Progress Medal is awarded in recognition of any invention, research, publication or other contribution which has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography or imaging in the widest sense. This award also carries with it an Honorary Fellowship of The Society.
2023 Emeritus Professor Christopher Dainty
2022 Given jointly to Graham Hudson and Leonardo Chiariglione
2021 Dr Katie Bouman
2020 Charles (Chuck) Hull
2019 Professor Al Bovik
2018 Professor Jacques Dubochet, Professor Joachim Frank and Dr Richard Henderson
2017 Dr Michael Francis Tompsett
2016 Palmer Luckey
2015 Dr George Elwood Smith
2014 Tim Webber
2013 Professor Paul B Corkum
2012 Steven J Sasson
2011 Dr Rodney Shaw
2010 Nobukazu Teranishi
2009 Bryce E Bayer
2008 Sir David Attenborough
2007 Dr Larry J Hornbeck PhD
2006 Professor Ferenc Krausz
2005 Dr Carver Mead, Richard F Lyon, Richard B Merrill
2004 Dr Eric R Fossum
2003 Sir Tim Berners-Lee
2002 Dr Brad Amos and Professor John White
2001 Professor C T Elliott
2000 Professor A Zaleski
1999 Leo J Thomas
1998 Emmett N Leith
1996 Dr Paul B Gilman
1995 Thomas and John Knoll
1994 Professor J W Mitchell
1993 Lennart Nilsson
1992 Dr G Farnell
1991 J Szarkowski
1990 Dr Tadaaki Tani
1989 Eric Hosking OBE
1988 David Hockney
1987 Dr Roy Jeffreys
1986 Professor Yuri Denisyuk
1985 Lord Snowdon
1984 Sir Tom Hopkinson
1983 Dr R W G Hunt
1982 Sue Davies
1981 Norman Parkinson
1980 Oxford Scientific Films
1979 Bill Brandt
1978 Photographic Technology Division Nasa
1977 Stephen Dalton
1976 W T Hanson Jr
1975 Beaumont Newhall
1974 Man Ray
1973 Dr T Howard James
1972 Professor Dr Hellmut Frieser
1971 Edward William Herbert Selwyn
1970 Professor W F Berg
1969 Laurence E Hallett OBE
1968 Professor Konstantine Vladimirovich Chibosov
1967 Dr E R Davies OBE
1966 L Fritz Gruber
1965 Dr Walter Clark
1964 Harold E Edgerton
1963 Leopold Godowsky and Leopold Mannes
1962 Dr Frances M Hamer
1961 André Rott
1960 Edward J Steichen
1959 Cecil Waller
1957 Dr Edwin H Land
1956 Not given
1955 Dr J D Kendall
1954 Dr Julian Webb
1953 Marcel Abribat
1952 Charles Edward Kenneth Mees
1951 J Dudley Johnston
1950 Louis Phillippe Clerc
1949 Professor Dr John Eggert
1948 Dr Lloyd Ancile Jones
1947 Not given
1946 John G Capstaff
1944 Francis James Mortimer CBE
1936 Arthur Samuel Newman
1935 Harold Dennis Taylor
1932 Dr Löppo-Cramer
1929 Olaf F Bloch
1928 Samuel E Sheppard
1927 George Eastman
1926 Not given
1925 Not given
1924 Alfred Stieglitz
1923 Nahum Ellan Luboshez
1922 Not given
1921 Frank Forster Renwick
1920 Not given
1919 Not given
1918 Not given
1917 Not given
1916 Not given
1915 André Callier
1914 William Bates Ferguson
1913 Charles Edward Kenneth Mees
1912 Henry Chapman Jones
1911 Not given
1910 Alfred Watkins
1909 A Lumiere et ses fils
1908 John Sterry
1907 E Sanger Shepherd
1906 Dr P J C Janssen
1905 Dr. Paul Rudolph
1904 Not given
1903 Frederick Eugene Ives
1902 Sir Joseph Wilson Swan
1901 Dr R L Maddox
1900 Louis Ducos du Hauron
1899 Not given
1898 Ferdinand Hurter and Vero C Driffield
1897 Professor Gabriel Lippmann
1896 Thomas R Dallmeyer
1895 Dr Peter Henry Emerson
1891 Colonel J Waterhouse
1890 Captain W de W Abney
1885 Professor Josef Maria Eder
1884 Dr J M Eder
1883 Walter B Woodbury
1882 Leon Warnerke
1881 W Willis
1878 Captain W de W Abney