Boy Scout Uniform Right Side National Camping Award

(A description of the BSA's National Camping SCHOOL emblems are on a separate page.)

The BSA has National Camping Awards for units and individuals. The Individual awards are a recent addition; the unit award has been around since 1922. All of these awards were discontinued by the BSA with the introduction of the Journey to Excellence program in 2009/2010. Replacing these awards are the BSA's National Outdoor Awards

National Camping Award unit certificate and streamer:

National Camping Award Certificate from the 60s

National Camping Award Certificate from the 80s

National Camping Award flag streamer

Robert Shull wrote and asked:

My troop (902) has asked me as a lodge officer to research a camping awardfor them. The award is for having a certain percentage of your troop attendlong term summer camp. We believe it is called the National Camping Award,but may go by a different name. Does anyone know anything about this award?

Your Scoutmaster should know about this award, Bob...the application form is located inside the BSA Camping Logsheets. (The Camping Log sheets can be purchased from your Council office or from the local Scout Shop(tm) as well.)

The BSA's National Camping Award is one of the oldest non-uniform awards that the BSA has. Created in 1922, the Award consisted for years as a certificate and a streamer for the unit flag. It was and continue to be a BIG DEAL when a Troop received the National Camping Award, for the requirements was high for many Troops to meet.

The BSA for some reason stopped providing the National Camping Award certificates to local Councils in 2001. I could not get an answer why the certificates were not provided on the national end. However, every local Council has a requirement to maintain camping records (number of Scouts and Scouters camping, lenght of camping, and number of Scouts attending long-term camp) on a yearly basis.

The National Camping Award consists of a certificate (see additional infomation below), a streamer for the unit's flag, and in some Councils a nice letter acknowledging the achievement signed by the Lodge Chief and Council Chair for Camping and Outdoor Activities.

The reason why I say that your Scoutmaster should know about this award, is because it's part of therequirements toward earning the Scoutmasters' Key Award or the Scouters' Training Award.

National Camping Award Individual Awards:

David Palmer wrote and asked:

I did a Google search, actually several, and I came up with a troop award for National Camping Award. These web sites mention cummulative individual awards - including 1000 nights. I checked with our district, and they are going to get back to me. I also found pictures of patches for 100 nights and 250 nights.

Does anyone have more information on the individual National Camping Award, such as an application or requirements?

Yes. I do.

National Camping Award Individual emblems

Here is the individual application and logsheet.

Somewhere in 1998 the BSA created INDIVIDUAL National Camping Awards in additionto the existing certificate. The BSA's National Outdoor Programs and Conservation Division hoped that the additional incentives would provide for more campers at our Council camps and at our national camping facilities like Philmont. There are four catagories for the unit award, based on the number of nights that the unit participated in the previous year.

The Awards were withdrawn for about a year and reintroduced in 2001. This was also the last year(from what I've been able to gather from phone calls and emails) that the old four-color National Camping Award certificates would be presented. Only old-timer Council executives and Scout Executives even KNEW what I was talking about when I called...none of the current batch of field professionals even SEEN a National Camping Award certificate before (wow, what a program!)

The patches can be earned for ANY camping experience that the Scout has participated in back to 200l as long as he was registered as a Boy Scout. We had a discussion here a few years back and I inccorrectly stated that Cub Scouts could earn the Award...the guys at Natiional said that the National Camping Award is STRICTLY A BOY SCOUT/VARSITY SCOUT AWARD.

The Scout is responsible for "logging" his camping days and nights, and thanks to Cynthia Mayeaux(thank you!!) I was able to get a copy of a Scout Log sheet and application for the individual awards.

These emblems are worn, one at a time, centered on the RIGHT uniform pocket as a temporary piece of insignia. They may also be worn in any combination on a patch jacket or vest or on the backside of the merit badge sash.

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