Trump nixes 2025 awards for federal employees

Updated: 11:05 a.m., March 12

The Trump administration is canceling this year’s awards that honor outstanding members of the senior executive service, according to an email obtained by Government Executive. 

That message said the presidential rank awards would resume in 2026. 

The PRAs, which were established in 1978 and are administered by the Office of Personnel Management, provide monetary prizes to winners who are chosen by the president for having “a sustained record of exceptional professional, technical and/or scientific achievement recognized on a national or international level” or for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment” over the course of a career. 

The meritorious award provides a cash prize of 20% of the recipient’s annual basic pay, while the distinguished award offers a monetary reward that is 35% of a winner’s annual basic pay. 

In 2024, there were 236 recipients from 30 federal agencies. 

The awards also were canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2013 for budgetary reasons. 

Recently, Trump has sought to exert more political influence on hirings and performance reviews for the nearly 9,000 members of the SES.  

OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Marcus Hill, the president of the Senior Executives Association, called the Trump administration's decision "disappointing and shortsighted." 

"It further illustrates this administration's view of the importance of an objective and skilled career Senior Executive Service, ultimately demoralizing and marginalizing the very leaders who have helped administrations of both parties achieve their objectives for decades," he said in a statement to Government Executive. "This, along with other impactful actions levied against career senior executives — most recently mandating political criteria for all SES  performance appraisals — furthers this administration's actions to devalue public service leadership.  No successful organization, to include private sector ones, thrives by opting not to appreciate, recognize and reward top performing leaders.”

Frank Konkel contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with a statement from SEA.