The American Advertising Federation's Silver Medal Award Program was established in 1959 to Recognize Men and Women who have made outstanding contributions to advertising and who have been active in furthering the industry's standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern. Annually, AAF's local advertising federations bestow this honor upon outstanding community leaders.

The Silver Medal Award program is, for many local federations, the highlight of their year. It enhances the image of advertising by recognizing a locally well known person for their advertising and community involvement.

The Silver Medal winners across the country are recognized each year in an annual brochure, which is distributed at the AAF American Advertising Conference held in June.

Each local federation's Silver Medal Judging Panel should follow these criteria:

Contributions to his/her company- The winner must have achieved success in one of the following areas of work: advertising agency, advertiser, media, or advertising service company.

Creative ability- The winner should have shown a consistent, high degree of creative, original thinking in whatever phase for advertising this person has worked.

Contributions to the general advancement of advertising - Award winners who have worked to increase the stature and raise the standards for the advertising profession.

Contributions to the community- The recipient should be someone who has been active in civic, religious or other groups dedicated to some phase of human or social welfare.