The Gold Medal of the Poznań International Fair celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2004. It was launched by the decision of the Foreign Trade Minister in consultation with the Board President of the Chief Technical Organization in 1979. As an award, it was modelled on the distinctions and medals presented at other, more renowned foreign trade fairs and exhibitions. It is awarded following detailed scrutiny by the competition jury, which consists of eminent specialists in respective fields to the products that meet a number of criteria, including quality and innovation, and which have been produced with the best available technology. The PIF Gold Medal officially confirms the perfect qualities of the products and, consequently, helps to promote them on the market. Fair medals are awarded to the best products out of tens and hundreds products entered into the competition.

Medals are awarded to products, not to companies, although it is the companies that actually receive the medals for their product, exhibit or concept. In this way the products get an additional market recommendation. Companies appreciate this distinction; some even claim that it helped them to increase sales by 10-30%. At the same time, customers’ confidence in the product grows. The PIF Gold Medal is also an important factor contributing to the promotion of the product and the company on foreign markets.

However, the history of trade fair awards is much older. During the twenty years between the first and second world wars about twenty different medals were designed and presented as awards and commemorative badges. Half of them were medals designed on the occasion of the First General Domestic Exhibition in 1929. Of all the medals the best ones were designed by Kazimiera Pazderska and Mieczysław Kotarbiński. An exceptionally rare medal, given as an award, was designed by Prof. Jan Wysocki in 1925; it was the first medal directly related to the Poznań International Fair. Other medals from that period, apart from PeWuKa (General Domestic Exhibition), were presented on the occasion of branch exhibitions organized in Poznań. The first medal in this series was designed in 1923 for the 1^st Agricultural-Industrial Exhibition. It was followed by medals designed by Prof. Jan Wysocki for the Jubilee Horticultural Exhibition and by Stefan Rufin Koźbielewski for the 1^st National Fair Exhibition of Goldsmithery, Engraving and Clock-Making. In the 1930s many medals were designed, including that designed in 1937 on the occasion of the “Art – Flowers – Interiors” exhibition.

In the same year, i.e. in 1937, exhibitors were also given stamps with the text “We exhibit at the Poznań Trade Fair”, which they affixed to their letters. Individual invitations were sent to 150,000 telephone subscribers in 340 Polish cities and towns.

To mark the jubilee of the PIF Gold Medal a new competition for the BIT – MTP Grand Gold Medal was organized in 2004. It featured the inscription “To the best of the best”. Only companies, which have been awarded at least three PIF Gold Medals for the products they exhibited at different trade fairs and exhibitions organized by the Poznań International Fair could compete for this trophy. Eventually, the medal was presented to 36 companies and also to eminent scientists and scholars who for many years served on the competition juries of the PIF Gold Medal competitions and who were the authors of the competition concept and criteria.