Merit Bars

Merit Bars

Merit Bars primarily are awards that recognize DeMolays for achievement in some phase of Chapter activity.  Religion and scholastics are the two exceptions.  Merit Bars are awarded to individual members on the recommendation of the Awards Advisor.  The Advisory Council makes the final decision about whether an individual has met the requirements for each bar. 

Each Merit Bar is produced in five (5) colors. Each color designates the number of times a DeMolay has received a bar in that category.

  1st award - White

   2nd award - Red

   3rd award - Blue

   4th award - Purple

   5th award - Gold

Each time a DeMolay achieves the next award in a category, he turns in his present bar and receives the next higher awerd.  As a result, at no time would he display more than 18 bars. 

Merit bars are earned in the following categories:

• Membership
• Merit
• Religion
• Scholastic
• Visitation
• Ritual
• Athletic
• Attendance
• Civic Service
• Conclave
• Fine Arts
• Fund-Raising
• Installing
• Journalism
• Correspondence Course
• Masonic Attendance
• Masonic Service
• Priory

Merit Bar Requirements

Athletic - For participating in a Chapter's athletic program for a year, with a minimum of six game competitions in one or more sports.

Attendance - For perfect attendance at regular meetings for one year in a member's Chapter or, if away from home, for the same number of meetings at another Chapter.  Make-up meetings counted toward the Attendance Bar may not be used to fulfill the requirements for the Visitation Bar.

Civic Service - For 10 hours of service on behalf of the Chapter, without financial remuneration to the individual or the Chapter, in three different civic service projects.

Conclave - For attending three state, jurisdiction or provincial conclaves as a participant or visitor.

Correspondence Course - For successful completion of each lesson of the five-part Leadership Correspondence Course.  This bar is automatically sent to the individual member on completion of the course.

Fine Arts - For membership in a DeMolay musical group, with a minimum of six performances, or for participating in a minimum of two Chapter theatrical performances.

Fund-Raising - For working on at least three different fund-raising projects for the Chapter, for a total of 20 hours, without direct financial remuneration to himself.

Installing-For participating in six Chapter installation ceremonies as a member of the installing team.

Journalism -For serving as a Chapter newspaper staff member for one year, during which a minimum of six issues were published and forwarded to the Service and Leadership center.

Masonic Attendance - For bringing 10 different Master Masons in good Masonic standing to a DeMolay Chapter meeting.  The awardee must list each Mason and have the list confirmed by both the Master Councilor and he Chapter Advisor.  In order for the visits to count toward the award, which is limited to one bar a year, the visiting Mason may not be an Advisor of any Chapter.

Masonic Service - For participating in three different Chapter Masonic service projects, for a minimum of 10 hours without payments to either the individual or the Chapter.

Membership - For being the first-line signer on three membership applications of individuals who subsequently are initiated in the Chapter.

Merit - For contributing 20 hours of service to DeMolay in an area not covered by another bar without payment to the individual or Chapter.

Priory - For being a member in good standing of a Priory for a minimum of one year and for attending two-thirds of the Priory functions.  The Priory must have held a minimum of six activities other than regular meetings.  The bar may be ordered by the Priory Advisors.

Religion - For not missing a regular weekly religious service for one full year.

Ritual - For sustained and UNUSUALLY HIGH-QUALITY WORK in performance of DeMolay Ritual parts with a minimum of 125 points earned according to the DeMolay International point scale.  Points usually are based on the number of lines in a part.  Points are awarded each time that part is given (see chart). 

A total of 125 points per level
The following point system will be used for each Official performance of the ritual