Each year The Ulysses Trust presents three expedition awards – recognising the very best expeditions undertaken by Reserves, Officer Cadets and Cadets. The winners are identified by a panel of the charity’s expedition experts during the first quarter of the following year and an announcement highlighting the winning expeditions is normally made by Easter. Each winning expedition receives a certificate. A breakdown of the history of the awards is detailed in the ‘Timeline’ section below.
If you would like further details about the expedition awards, please contact the Charity’s Awards Officer.
| YEAR | RESERVE EXPEDITION | OFFICER CADET EXPEDITION | CADET EXPEDITION | Ref |
| 2011 | Exercise Antarctic Odyssey HQ ATG(A) | [1] | Exercise Corse Venturer Kelvinside Academy CCF | [2] |
| 2012 | Exercise Northern Yorkshire Splash 4 Yorks | Exercise Illimani Sunrise East Midlands UOTC | Exercise Scots Paddle Marine Society and Sea Cadets – Paddlesport Team | [2] |
| 2013 | Exercise Black Viking 4 PARA | Exercise Dragon Alpaca East Midlands UOTC | Exercise Snowdonia Start Gwent & Powys ACF | [2] |
| 2014 | Exercise Aoraki Serpent HQ 2 Med Bde | Exercise Blue Patrouilles des Glaciers Oxford UOTC | Exercise In The Footsteps of Lawrence – Jordan 2014 2427 (Biggin Hill) Sqn ATC | [2] |
| 2015 | Exercise Alpine Arc Joint Service | Exercise Rolling Eagle Exeter UOTC | Exercise Fistral Folly Durham ACF | [3] |
| 2016 | Exercise Dragon Sisimiut 3 Royal Welsh | Exercise Northern Bear 16 Northumbrian UOTC | Exercise Yukon Adventure Sussex Wing ATC | [3] |
| 2017 | Exercise SPEAR 17 British Army Reserves | Exercise Arctic Express 2017 London UOTC | Exercise Stirling Venturer 17 TS Stirling Sea Cadets | [3] |
| 2018 | Exercise Northern Amazon Serpent 2018 225 Medical Regiment | Exercise Guyan Emu East Midlands UAS | Exercise Incan Venture Sussex Wing ATC | [3] [4] |
| 2019 | Exercise Northern Scapa Tartan 2019 51st Highland 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland | Exercise Mongolian Endurance 2019 East of Scotland UAS | Exercise Tiger Venturer Matravers 2019 Matravers CCF | [3] |
| 2020 | See [5] below. | See [5] below. | See [5] below. | [3] [5] |
| 2021 | See [6] below. | See [6] below. | Exercise Artemis MMXXII No 2344 (Longbenton) Sqn ATC | [3] [6] |
| 2022 | Exercise Dragon Maple 2022 37 Signal Regiment | Exercise Arctic Express Leg 9 2022 London UOTC | Exercise Round the Island 2022 UTC Reading CCF | [2] |
| 2023 | Exercise Northern Amazonas Fortuna 2023 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment | Arctic Edge 2023 Northern Ireland Universities Air Sqn | Kwazulu Natal Ddraig Pan Wales Army Cadet Force | |
| 2024 | Snjor Mountaineer 2024 Army Mountaineering Association | Harkan Fire 2024 Wales, Bristol and Birmingham UAS | Tiree Tiger 2024 SE Region HQ Army Cadets | [7] |
| [1] | In 2011 there was no Officer Cadet Expedition category. These expeditions were included within the ‘Adult Reservist’ category. |
| [2] | The Ulysses Trust Expedition Awards. |
| [3] | HRH Prince of Wales’s Expeditionary Awards. |
| [4] | Additionally, a Prince of Wales’s Commendation was presented to Sergeant Jordan Beecher Oxfordshire ACF for Exercise Atlantic Trident. |
| [5] | Owing to the low number of expeditions in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic no awards were made. |
| [6] | Owing to the pandemic only one award was presented in 2021 to reflect the unit showing the greatest tenacity when deploying faced with the raft of COVID-related rules and guidelines to be addressed. |
| [7] | The Royal Patron Expedition Awards |
Timeline
The awards began in 2011 and were first awarded at the Trust’s 20th Anniversary Event in 2012 by CDS (David Richards) and long-standing Trust supporter Ian Hannam.
In 2015, in recognition of being Patron for the previous 25 years, the Trust asked HRH The Prince of Wales if he would consider putting his name to the Expeditionary Awards, to which he agreed. He also agreed to personally sign each unit award certificate to recognise the significant achievement of the unit.
In 2018 a Prince of Wales’s Commendation was presented to Oxfordshire ACF for Exercise Atlantic Trident.
In 2020, owing to the low number of expeditions as a consequence of the pandemic, no awards were made.
In 2021, owing to the pandemic, only one award was presented to reflect the unit showing the greatest tenacity when deploying faced with the raft of COVID-related rules and guidelines to be addressed.
For 2022-2024 only, owing to studies being undertaken to consider the former Prince of Wales’s patronages, the awards will be named ‘The Ulysses Trust Expedition Awards’ and certificates will be signed by the Chair.