The gold medal is the highest achievement medal in the non military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a portion of gold in the form of plating or alloying in its manufacturing process.

Since the 18th century, for example, the Royal Danish Academy in Denmark has awarded gold medals in art, often as a symbol of rewarding outstanding students with a certain degree of financial freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Now, many organizations, including UNESCO and various academic groups, have won gold medals annually or particularly.

Some gold medals are pure gold, others are gold-plated or gilded, such as the Olympic Games, the Lorenz medal, the U.S. Congress gold medal and the Nobel medal. The Nobel prize includes 18 carats of green gold and 24 carats of gold. Before 1980, they were hit by 23 carats of gold.

Usually in other sports and other competitive areas, such as music and writing, as well as some competitive games, have won gold medals, usually silver and bronze medals to second place. Usually, the bronze medal is only awarded to the third place, but it is also different in some competitions, such as the international barbershop music competition, where the bronze medal won the third, fourth and fifth places respectively.