NOAA ACO Junior Officer of the Year Medal ~ An individual decoration awarded annually since 1967 to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps officer, below the grade of lieutenant commander, to recognize outstanding contributions to NOAA, outstanding performance, and/or the positive reflection cast by the recipient upon the NOAA Corps.

This medal is in very good used condition with a slight patina to the silver finish. Obviously, as an annual award generally to a single officer it is fairly uncommon (in three years two awards were given). It has been awarded 45 times to date and a list of the recipients can be found below. Hallmarked GRACO GI on the brooch. I'd guess late-1980s but this is entirely a guess.

• 1967 John O. Rolland
• 1968 John B. Courtney
• 1969 James A. Buschur
• 1970 Kenneth F. Burke
• 1971 Abram Y. Bryson Jr. and Frederick J. Jones
• 1972 Melvyn C. Grunthal
• 1973 John D. Busman
• 1974 Thomas W. Ruszala
• 1975 Bryan K. Mezger
• 1976 Alan J. Pickrell
• 1977 Charles D. Mason
• 1978 Duane C. Simpson
• 1979 Charles I. Zigelman
• 1980 Kent A. Dogget and Neal G. Millett
• 1981 Nicholas E. Perugini
• 1982 Mark S. Finke
• 1983 Lawrence F. Simoneaux
• 1984 Thomas A. Wolf
• 1985 Craig N. McLean and John T. Moakley
• 1986 Timothy D. Tisch
• 1987 Jon E. Rix
• 1988 Brian J. Lake
• 1989 George E. White
• 1990 Christopher P. Mobley
• 1991 William E. Site
• 1993 Timothy C. Trembley
• 1994 Michael D. Francisco
• 1995 John E. Herring
• 1997 Guy T. Knoll
• 1998 Robert A. Kamphaus
• 1999 David A. Score
• 2000 Edward J. Van Den Ameele
• 2001 John K. Longenecker
• 2002 Joseph A. Pica
• 2003 Daniel K. Karlson
• 2004 Scott M. Sirois
• 2006 Benjamin Evans
• 2007 Daniel Simon
• 2008 Amanda Goeller
• 2009 Nicola VerPlank
• 2010 Abigail Higgins
• 2011 Patrick Murphy