The Medal of Honor is the Society’s highest award and is presented only as the occasion warrants, for notable achievement in and for encouragement to American Sculpture. This year, the award, which consists of a certificate and a medal designed by Laura Gardin Fraser, is presented to NSS Fellow, Simon Kogan.

NSS board member and sculptor, Heidi Wastweet says, “Simon is an absolute master of gesture and distilling a form to its essence. Mood and emotion are conveyed boldly, but never melodramatically. Whether it’s an animal, human or architectural form, whether in the round or in relief, whether metal, glass, wood or clay, I know his work immediately, even from across the room, due to his distinctive style. I have a clear memory of the first time I saw his sculptures – I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore when I picked up a small book with the name Simon Kogan. The images inside fired up my brain and I never put it down. Later, I had the privilege to attend one of his workshops and discovered that, like his sculpture, his personality pulls no punches. He holds back nothing from his students. Prolific and focused in his work, he still gives back to the sculpture community with his whole heart. This is the nature of legacy. This is the kind of artist who deserves the highest recognition.”

Simon regularly teaches workshops at Scottsdale Artists’ School and Brookgreen Gardens. His mentorship program, “Figuratively Speaking with Simon Kogan,” is run by Tucson Art Academy Online. He’s created Monumental Portraits for Changsha Normal University (Hunan, China, 2019); the 80th Anniversary Brookgreen Gardens Medal for Brookgreen Gardens (South Carolina, 2011); the Holocaust Memorial for Spokane, WA (2005); a statue of Justice William O. Douglas (Washington, 2004) and the World War II Memorial for Washington’s capitol (Washington, 1999). In 2002, Washington State’s House of Representatives recognized Simon for his extensive body of work which, according to the resolution, is “inextricably linked to the cultural fabric of Washington State and its history.”

Simon Kogan joins other prestigious recipients including Daniel Chester French (1929), Neil Estern (2008), Robert E. Jewell (2017), Robin R. Salmon (2022) and Michel Langlais (2024). The presentation took place on June 6, 2025 in New York City.