Instituted in 1878, this 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.

Previous recipients of the Progress medal are:

1878       W de W Abney
1881       W Willis
1882       Leon Warnerke
1883       W B Woodbury
1884       J M Eder
1890       W de W Abney
1891       J Waterhouse
1895       P H Emerson
1896       Thomas R Dallmeyer
1897       Gabriel Lippmann
1898       Ferdinand Hurter and Vero C Driffield
1900       Louis Ducos du Hauron
1901       R L Maddox
1902       Joseph Wilson Swan
1903       Frederick Eugene Ives
1905       Paul Rudolph
1906       P J C Janssen
1907       E Sanger Shepherd
1908       John Sterry
1909       A Lumiere et ses fils
1910       Alfred Watkins
1912       H Chapman Jones
1913       C E Kenneth Mees
1914       William B Ferguson
1915       Andre Callier
1921       Frank Forster Renwick
1923       Nahum Ellan Luboshez
1924       Alfred Stieglitz
1927       George Eastman
1928       S E Sheppard
1929       Olaf F Bloch
1932       Luppo Cramer
1934       Harold Dennis Taylor
1936       Arthur Samuel Newman
1944       F J Mortimer
1946       J G Capstaff
1948       Lloyd A Jones
1949       Professor Dr John Eggert
1950       L P Clerc
1951       J Dudley Johnston
1952       C E Kenneth Mees
1953       Marcel Abribat
1954       Julian Webb
1956       J D Kendall
1957       Edwin H Land
1959       Cecil Waller
1960       Edward J Steichen
1961       Andre Rott
1962       Frances M Hamer
1963       Leopold Godowsky and Leopold Mannes
1964       Harold E Edgerton
1965       Walter Clark
1966       L Fritz Gruber
1967       E R Davies
1968       K V Chibisov
1969       L E Hallett
1970       W F Berg
1971       E W H Selwyn
1972       Hellmut Frieser
1973       T Howard James
1974       Man Ray
1975       Beaumont Newhall
1976       W T Hanson
1977       Stephen Dalton
1978       Photo Tech Div Nasa
1979       Bill Brandt
1980       Oxford Scientific Films
1981       Norman Parkinson
1982       Sue Davies
1983       Dr R W G Hunt
1984       Sir Tom Hopkinson
1985       Lord Snowdon
1986       Prof Yuri Denisyuk
1987       Dr Roy Jeffreys
1988       David Hockney
1989       Eric Hosking OBE
1990       Dr Tadaaki Tani
1991       J Szarkowski
1992       Dr G Farnell
1993       Lennart Nilsson
1994       Prof J W Mitchell
1995       Thomas and John Knoll
1996       Dr Paul B Gilman
1998       Emmett N Leith
1999       Leo J Thomas
2000       Professor A Zaleski
2001       Professor C T Elliott
2002       Dr Brad Amos and Professor John White
2003       Sir Tim Berners-Lee
2004       Dr Eric R Fossum
2005       Dr Carver Mead, Richard F Lyon, Richard B Merrill
2006       Professor Ferenc Krausz
2007       Dr Larry J Hornbeck PhD
2008       Sir David Attenborough
2009       Bryce E Bayer
2010       Nobukazu Teranishi
2011       Dr Rodney Shaw