Service to America Medals

2023 Sammies recognize the exceptional work of federal employees

This year’s Sammies winners were commended for their work in everything from nationwide infrastructure investments to improved access to student loan forgiveness…

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FILE — In this Friday June 21, 2019 file photo, the sun peaks past almonds growing on the branches of an almond tree in Modesto, Calif. On Monday, July 12, 2021 lawsuits were filed in four California counties seeking potential class-action damages from Dow Chemical and its successor company over a widely used bug killer containing Chlorpyrifos that has been linked to brain damage in children. Chlorpyrifos is approved for use on more than 80 food crops, including oranges, berries, grapes, soybeans almonds and walnuts, though California banned the sales of the pesticide last year and ended spraying this year. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

This USDA entomologist lets bugs do the dirty work of eliminating other bugs

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Peter MusurlianSarah in pink
Megan in black

This team from HHS has spent five years taking on the rural crisis of opioid use

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken, seen in shadow at right, as he speaks during a event to thank and recognize members of the State Department workforce who bring 222 individuals who had been imprisoned by the Government of Nicaragua to the United States, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

The story behind recent releases of Americans held in foreign countries

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Researchers and crew aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster watch footage of divers working at Gray's Reef, about 20 miles off the coast of Georgia on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

She rescued this sea-faring federal group from sinking under its own culture

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FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2017, file photo, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Building is shown in Washington. Two high-ranking Trump political appointees at the EPA engaged in fraudulent payroll activities, including payments to employees after they were fired and to one of the officials when he was absent from work, that cost the agency more than $130,000, a report by an internal watchdog says. Former chief of staff Ryan Jackson and former White House liaison Charles Munoz submitted “official timesheets and personnel forms that contained materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements

How the EPA funneled enforcement into a difficult-to-reach part of the country

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FILE - In this Friday, March 5, 2021 file photo, a nurse holds a vial of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Some Africans are hesitating to get COVID-19 vaccines amid concerns about their safety, alarming public health officials as some countries start to destroy thousands of doses that expired before use. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

This federal doctor’s research has made HIV/AIDS manageable and saved lives

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