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Governor General’s Graduate Academic Medal

The School of Graduate Studies is pleased to provide you with information for the 2026 Governor General’s Graduate Academic Medals Competition.

The Governor General’s Academic Medals will be awarded to two graduate students who achieve the highest academic standing in their respective graduate doctoral or master’s degree program. Students who complete a graduate doctoral or master’s degree in time for either the Spring 2026 Convocation or the upcoming Fall 2026 Convocation are eligible to be nominated.

McMaster will be awarding 2 Governor General Gold Medals for the November 2026 Fall Convocation. Overall academic excellence determines the selection of the two Gold Medal recipients, regardless of graduate degree level (master’s or doctoral).

Nominees for the Governor General’s Academic Medal must be exceptional, and it is unlikely that each department and program offering a graduate degree will nominate a candidate every year.

The School of Graduate Studies invites departments to submit their nomination in SLATE.

Note: Each department can only submit one (doctoral OR masters) nomination for this competition.

School of Graduate Studies deadline: noon, Thursday, October 1, 2026

 

Expandable List

Masters and Doctoral

  • Canadian, Permanent Resident or International Student
  • Minimum overall academic average of 11.5/12.0 in their graduate studies
  • Must have been ranked Excellent in at least four of the five categories on the Confidential Examiner’s Report on a PhD Thesis or a Pass on the Master’s Defence Examining Committee Report.
  • Publications and awards will be considered as further evidence of academic excellence
  • Must have met all their degree requirements by Friday, September 25, 2026.
    • defended their degree thesis
    • filed all revisions of the thesis with the School of Graduate Studies and uploaded the thesis to MacSphere.

Each recommended nomination must include the following documents (uploaded to Slate):

  1. A supporting letter (signed on letterhead) from the Department Chair explaining why the individual should be considered for the academic medal. Maximum 2 pages. The letter must:
    • reference the nominee’s academic excellence
    • include the nominee’s overall numeric academic average for all graduate degrees combined
  2. A supporting letter (signed on letterhead) from the nominee’s supervisor explaining why the individual should be considered for the academic medal. Maximum 2 pages. The letter must:
    • show the impact of the research, i.e., the knowledge to action outcomes, does it have understandable impacts to end users i.e., industry users, practitioners, policy makers, etc.
    • reference the significance and quality of the nominee’s dissertation work.
  3. A copy of the Confidential Examiner’s Report on a PhD Thesis or the Master’s Defence Examining Committee Report. Note: Do not submit thesis.
  4. An abstract of the thesis in non-technical language not exceeding 350 words, written, and signed by the candidate.
  5. Official copies of all university transcripts with legends.
  6. Nominee’s current CV
  7. In addition to the CV, the nominator must include the following CV summary information in Slate:
    • Overall numeric academic average
    • all external/internal awards received
    • number of peer reviewed publications as first author
    • number of peer reviewed publications as co-author.

The School of Graduate Studies adjudication committee will select the two recipients following our review and ranking process. The applicants will be contacted with the results the week of October 26, 2026.