In order to give proper recognition to members who have provided outstanding service to The Augustan Society, Inc., whose recognition through the [[Fellowship]] system may be felt insufficient, the Society established the [[Balling Award]], named for Cdr. George R. Balling, OAE, the first recipient. It was soon observed that some individuals would contribute so much, so consistently, and for such a long time, that they would monopolize the Balling Award for years at a time.
It was felt that the Balling Award would be more effective if more widely spread, and it was also observed that those who earned the award repeatedly were not particularly motivated by it, but actually somewhat embarrassed by it's repeated presentation. Thus it was decided to create the Metzler Award, named for its first (and to date, only) recipient, Dame Evelyn J.T. Metzler, OAE.