About the medal

Design of the Medal

Hutton Medal (front) featuring Professor Frederick Wollaston Hutton

Hutton Medal (back) featuring a tuatara and kiwi with a background of New Zealand plants

The medal in bronze, depicts on the obverse the late Professor Frederick Wollaston Hutton FRS and on the reverse, a tuatara (Sphenodon) and kiwi (Apteryx), with a background of New Zealand plants (Celmisia, Phormium, Cordyline ) framing a landscape with an active volcano.

Background of the Medal

The Hutton Medal was established in memory of Captain F W Hutton FRS (1836-1905), who was the first President of the New Zealand Institute from 1904 to 1905. He was a leader in colonial science almost since his arrival in New Zealand in 1866. The Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi is the successor to the New Zealand Institute.

The Hutton Memorial Fund was established in 1909 to support the award of the Hutton Medal and grants for the encouragement of research in New Zealand zoology, botany, or geology. Until 1996 the medal was awarded not more than once every three years, to those who have received the greater part of their education in New Zealand or who have resided in New Zealand for not less than ten years, for research with a distinct bearing on these fields. From 1996 to 2008 the medal was awarded biennially but it was agreed by the Academy Council on 22 September 2008 that the medal would be awarded annually from 2009.