Preamble

The periodic Award of a gold medal was instituted in 1952 by the ISP to encourage the advancement of photogrammetry.  The funds for the provision of medals were given in memory of Arthur and Norman Brock.  On 22nd May, 1954 and 25th March, 1955, the Council of the ISP adopted unanimously certain rules governing the Award of the medal and further resolved that those rules should remain in force until altered by the unanimous vote of the Council which provision is still valid.  On 8th May 1957, 20 April 1999 and December 3 2025, the Council considered alterations to the rules and subsequently by correspondence agreed by unanimous vote to alter them and rewrite them as follows:
 

Rules governing the award

1. The medal shall be known as the Brock Gold Medal Award and shall be awarded at the sole discretion of the Council of the ISPRS in accordance with the following rules.
2. The person to whom the Award is to be made shall be selected irrespective of nationality and solely in respect of contribution to the accomplishment to be signalized by the Award.
3. The medal shall be awarded only in respect of an outstanding landmark in the evolution of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, which shall be a proven contribution to these sciences and technologies of whatever form, whether a major completed project or program, some fundamentally new equipment, system or fundamentally new technique, or other new departure.
4. The landmark in the evolution of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences to be thus signalized by the Award of the medal shall have proven its worth as a contribution to the advancement of these fields at least two years prior to the Congress at which the Award is to be made and in general not more than some twelve years prior to the Congress.
5. Nominations for the Award of the medal shall be made in accordance with the following rules:
   1. The Council shall, two years prior to each Congress, invite the member societies to submit nominations for recipients of the Award.
   2. Every nomination for the Award shall be made by two individuals who adhere to the ISPRS through any of the forms of membership and who are neither of the same nationality as their candidate nor of the same nationality as one another.
   3. Nominations shall be in respect of an individual and not of a group of individuals nor of any organization or commercial firm.  However, as many advances in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, and in the execution of projects and programs, may be largely due to team work, it shall be allowable to nominate the leader or the leading spirit of a team of workers, or such person as the team itself may think has made the most important or outstanding or fundamental contribution to their work.
   4. Every nomination shall be made in writing to the President of the ISPRS and shall be accompanied by documentation and an explanation of the grounds of the nomination that shall be sufficiently full to enable the Council to evaluate them.
   5. The nominators may consult organizations or individuals of the country in which their candidate has been working, who are involved in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, and if they do so, they must include in their documentation the advice they have received.
   6. Nominations shall be made only during the period between the close of one Congress and nine months before the opening of the next.
   7. All nominations made prior to one Congress shall lapse at the conclusion of that Congress, whether or not any medal was awarded at it.  It is permissible to revive a nomination that has lapsed by making a fresh nomination.
6. The selection of the person to receive the medal shall be made by the Council in accordance with the following rules:
   1. Any member of the Council who has been nominated for the Award shall not, while their name remains one that can still be considered, take part in the proceedings of selection or be counted as a member of Council for the purpose of calculating the proportion of votes cast under this rule.
   2. Nine months before each Congress the Council shall begin to consider all nominations received to date, and may at the same time consider the merits of the work of any other person (except a member of Council) that the Council itself deems worthy of consideration for the Award.  The Council shall complete its consideration and reach its conclusion in sufficient time to permit the preparation of the medal and its presentation at the Congress.
   3. The Council may use whatever procedure it thinks fit to reach its conclusions, provided a final selection is made by vote.  In such voting a Councilor of the same nationality as a candidate not yet eliminated shall have no vote and a candidate to be successful must receive the votes of not less than two thirds of those entitled to vote.  Votes may be cast in person or by post.
7. The Council shall normally expect to award one medal at each Congress.  It may abstain from awarding a medal at any particular Congress, in which case it may award an additional medal at the following Congress but not later.
8. The name of the recipient of the medal shall be announced at the Congress, and the medal shall, whenever practicable, be presented in person at the Congress by the President.
9. The medal shall not be awarded posthumously, other than in the exceptional event of the candidate dying after having been selected for the Award, in which case the Council shall decide whether to award the medal posthumously or not at all or to some other candidate.
10. A trust fund has been established by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for the provision of the Brock Award medals.  The terms of the trust deed and any modifications thereof shall be subject to the approval of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and by the Council of the ISPRS; it shall contain provisions for the safeguarding of the capital value of the assets and for all accrued interest to be used in the provision of medals.  Trustees shall be appointed by the President of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, which Society shall be responsible to report biennially to the Council of the ISPRS for the proper conduct of the affairs of the trust.

Amendments approved by the ASPRS and the ISPRS Council on 9th September 2009

The winners of the award

• 1956 L. Bertele, Switzerland
• 1960 W. Schermerhorn, Netherlands
• 1968 H. Schmid, USA
• 1972 U.V. Helava, Canada
• 1976 F. Ackermann, Germany
• 1980 G. Hobrough, Canada
• 1984 F.J. Doyle, USA
• 1988 D. Brown, USA
• 1992 G. Brachet, France
• 1996 Y.S. Tjuflin, Russia
• 2000 J. Dangermond, USA
• 2004 K. Kasturirangan, India
• 2008 A. Grün, Switzerland
• 2012 F. Leberl, Austria
• 2016 W. Förstner, Germany
• 2020 Deren Li, China