Classifications are important to all archers because they are the best indication of where you are in terms of scoring ability, and provide a benchmark for levels of improvement. There are nine different classification levels available to all archers, which are grouped into three sets of three. An archer starts off with the Archer tier, with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class awards. They then move up to the Bowman tier, again with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class, and then finally the Master Bowman tier, where the naming gets a little more fun with Master Bowman (MB), Grand Master Bowman (GMB) and Elite Master Bowman (EMB).

Archery GB produces tables detailing exactly what scores you need in each round to hit a certain classification. The scores required for a classification can be found in  here.

These levels cover the full range of experience for the vast majority of archers, with Archer 3rd Class achievable by many new archers within their first year or two in the sport, whereas Elite Master Bowman will be a challenge for even the very best in the country to maintain.

You can hold different classifications for different bow types, but you can only hold your classification for the calendar year in which you shot your qualifying scores. You must re-qualify each year to maintain it.

English Cross Badges can be claimed for a WA 1440 shot at any World or UK Record Status tournament held in England. Each badge can be claimed once by shooting a score equal to or greater than those given in the tables below. Please note you can only claim crosses for record status metric shoots.

Open to seniors and juniors when shooting at a UK Record Status York, Hereford, Bristols I-V tournament that also has Rose Award status.  Claims are made at the record status tournament and the round shot must be relevant to age group.

World Archery awards are suited to juniors and beginners

There are two levels of the Feather awards; Red and Gold.  

WA Red and Gold Feather Awards: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 zone scoring on 5 zone target faces and 80cm faces
Minimum 12 hits out of 15 arrows. 2 ends of sighters, 3 arrows per end. Red Feather – 6 metres, Gold Feather – 8 metres. Once this has been completed the archer can then move onto the arrow awards.

Arrow awards are earned in the order of: White, Black, Blue, Red and Gold.

To obtain the awards you need to not only complete a scoring task, but also demonstrate technical prowess and answer some archery related questions.

Each award level comes with its own print out section. They each include information that you need to understand and revise as well as a set shooting task.

Shooting Tasks

Red Feather: Achieve a min. of 12 hits out of 15 arrows (5 ends of 3 arrows) shot at a 80cm target spot at 6m distance (6 to 10 zones only).

Gold Feather: Achieve a min. of 12 hits out of 15 arrows (5 ends of 3 arrows) shot at a 80cm target spot at 8m distance (6 to 10 zones only).

White Arrow: Score 115 or higher with 15 arrows on an 80cm target face at 10m
Black Arrow: Score 115 or higher with 15 arrows on an 80cm target face at 14m
Blue Arrow: Score 115 or higher with 15 arrows on an 80cm target face at 18m
Red Arrow: Score 115 or higher with 15 arrows on an 80cm target face at 22m
Gold Arrow: Score 115 or higher with 15 arrows on an 80cm target face at 26m

Target awards

Target award badges are available for recurve, compound and barebow archers and earned by hitting points milestones on the standard 72-arrow target archery qualification rounds, 60-arrow indoor archery qualification rounds or 900 Round.

Silver target award badges are available for recurve archers shooting in the under-18 (cadet) and over-50 (master) age groups and earned by hitting points milestones on the 72-arrow 60-metre qualification round.

Badges can be claimed for achieving the required score on any round but each badge can only be claimed once. The gold target, purple target, gold silver target and purple silver target award badges are considered high-performance awards and can only be issued by World Archery.

Recurve Target Award Badges

Compound Target Award Badges

Barebow Target Awaeds Badges

Recurve Silver Target Award Badge

Arrowhead awards

Arrowhead award badges are available for recurve, compound and barebow archers and earned by hitting points milestones on the standard arrowhead field archery round, which is shot over a course of 24 or 48 targets and can consist of marked distances, unmarked distances or a combination of marked and unmarked distances. Archers shooting in the under-18 (cadet) age group can claim only the green arrowhead and brown arrowhead award badges when shooting the shorter distance arrowhead round.

The silver arrowhead and gold arrowhead award badges are considered high-performance awards and can only be issued by World Archery.

Recurve Arrowhead Awards

The following scores must be achieved on a 24-target arrowhead round.

The following scores must be achieved on a 48-target arrowhead round.

Compound Arrowhead Awards

The following scores must be achieved on a 24-target arrowhead round.

The following scores must be achieved on a 48-target arrowhead round.