The Distinguished Service Award is the premier community award given annually in Butler County.

It was established in 1949 to honor outstanding volunteerism in the Butler community. In 1952 the award was split to honor two people annually: a junior, 45 years old or younger; and a senior, over age 45.

The award was started by the Jaycees and then passed on to the Butler County Chamber of Commerce. The Rotary Clubs of Butler and the chamber now run the program.

Honorees are selected by previous award winners. Nominations are sought from the public and the past winners vote on the nominees.

Award winners and the year they were honored are:

1949 — No award given1950 — No award given1951 — No award given1952 — Elias Ritts1953 — Carmen V. Marinaro1954 — I. Max Jaffe1954 — Ira E. Keck1955 — Edward A. Roncone1956 — Charles A. Snyder1957 — A. Whitney Murphy1958 — Harry S. Hagen1959 — William Horowitz1960 — Louis Karges1961 — John Chiprean1962 — Vernon L. Wise Sr.1963 — Michael Chuhra1964 — The Rev. Max E. Smith1965 — Bernard J. Bryan1966 — Hy Hurwitz1967 — Mitchell G. Uram1968 — Robert L. Kaufman1969 — Calvin E. Bieseeker1970 — T. Earl Boliver1971 — William C. Graham1972 — Dr. William Armstrong1973 — Saul J. Bernstein1974 — Lois S. Jaffe1975 — Jean B. Purvis1976 — Andrew Yaracs1977 — Gail L. Rose1978 — John Eisler1979 — Charles Thompson1980 — William J. Lutz1981 — Hugh Stratton1982 — Sophia Himchak1983 — Guy Travaglio1984 — Elinor Branning1985 — Mary Phillips1986 — G. Edward Howard1987 — John W. Gumpper1988 — Margo B. Pitts1989 — Nancy Murrin1990 — Reldon Cooper1991 — John E. Kosar1992 — Amy Beiler1993 — Bill Bessor1994 — Dale Pinkerton1995 — Joseph Smith1996 — Ida Findley1997 — Robert Thompson1998 — Anabel Brunermer1999 — Charles W. Beighney2000 — Pete Richdale2001 — Millie Pinkerton2002 — Wesley Hamilton2003 — Abie Abraham2004 — Wayne Myers2005 — William "Digger" Young Jr.2006 — Tullio "Doc" Viola2007 — Bill Bittner

1949 — John N. Gazetos1950 — Robert Bruce Faulk1951 — Joseph Davidson1952 — No award given1953 — Rabbi Robert Syme1954 — Arthur O. Black1955 — James D. Lawson1956 — Earle D. Whitney1957 — John L. Wise Jr.1958 — George T. Walters1959 — David Lloyd1960 — C.R. Crawford1961 — Edward P. Vargo1962 — Charles Fuellgraf Jr.1963 — James A. Green1964 — Leonard A. Green1965 — William A. Lehnerd1966 — C. Thomas Kelly1967 — Larry M. Berg1968 — Thomas Patterson1969 — Hal Hamilton1970 — James Jones1971 — David L. Tressler1972 — The Rev. John Ayoob1973 — Don Donaldson1974 — George Braun1975 — Edward Wadding1976 — Alberta (Schaffnit) Stoll1977 — Sue Bennitt1978 — Fred Bennitt1979 — Jack Barkley1980 — Ronald Brandon1981 — Linda Bennitt-Hemmes1982 — Dr. Carole Bitter1983 — Patricia Patterson1984 — Vince Tavolario1985 — Vickie Hinterberger1986 — Vickie White1987 — Dennis Rickard1988 — Cynthia Sweeney1989 — Jud D. Stewart1990 — Brad Magill1991 — Anne A. Miller1992 — No award given1993 — Ron Vodenichar1994 — Sharon Clouse1995 — Rebecca Plymale1996 — Michael Slupe1997 — John Spryn1998 — Tony Chiprean1999 — Leslie A. Osche2000 — Harold Jurysta Jr.2001 — David Crater2002 — Kristen A. Hofer2003 — Michele Jurysta2004 — Nancy Hunter Mycka2005 — Lisa Guard2006 — Jennifer Roxbury2007 — Jennifer Sproat