| J.O. Sentell | Alabama Supreme Court | 1979 |
| Ronald L. Dzierbicki | Michigan Court of Appeals | 1980 |
| Wilfried J. Kramer | California Court of Appeal, 3rd District | 1981 |
| Morgan Thomas | Georgia Court of Appeals | 1982 |
| Lewis C. Carter | Kansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals | 1983 |
| Mary Ann Hopkins-Young | Arizona Supreme Court | 1984 |
| Alexander L. Stevas | Supreme Court of the United States | 1985 |
| Luella Dunn | North Dakota Supreme Court and Court of Appeals | 1986 |
| Jean M. Kennett | Massachusetts Supreme Court | 1987 |
| John C. Scott | Kentucky Court of Appeals | 1988 |
| Joline B. Williams | Georgia Supreme Court | 1989 |
| Frans J. LaBranche | Louisiana Supreme Court | 1990 |
| Gloria J. Engel | South Dakota Supreme Court | 1991 |
| Reba Mims | South Carolina Court of Appeals | 1992 |
| Stephen W. Townsend | New Jersey Supreme Court | 1993 |
| Peggy Stevens McGraw | Missouri Court of Appeals | 1994 |
| Kevin A. Swanson | California Court of Appeal, 5th District | 1995 |
| Glen D. Clark | Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 1 | 1996 |
| William S. Fulton, Jr. | U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals | 1997 |
| Ella M. Williams | Michigan Court of Appeals | 1998 |
| Joyce A. Goldsmith | Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 2 | 1999 |
| John H. Wilkerson, Jr. | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals | 2000 |
| R. Keith Richardson | Iowa Supreme Court and Court of Appeals | 2001 |
| Marilyn L. Graves | Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals | 2002 |
| David G. Beach | Virginia Supreme Court | 2003 |
| Penny L. Miller | North Dakota Supreme Court | 2004 |
| Kenneth J. DeBlanc | Louisiana Court of Appeal, 3rd Circuit | 2005 |
| Joseph A. Lane | California Court of Appeal, 2nd District | 2006 |
| Sherie M. Welch | Georgia Supreme Court | 2007 |
| Leslie D. Gradet | Maryland Court of Special Appeals | 2008 |
| Diana Pratt-Wyatt | Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2nd Circuit | 2009 |
| Christie Cameron | North Carolina Supreme Court | 2010 |
| Ed Smith | Montana Supreme Court | 2011 |
| Tom Hall | Florida Supreme Court | 2012 |
| William K. Suter | Supreme Court of the United States | 2013 |
| Steven F. Lancaster | Indiana Court of Appeals | 2014 |
| Marilyn May | Alaska Appellate Courts | 2015 |
| Bill DeCicco | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces | 2016 |
| Rory Perry | West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals | 2017 |
| Deena Fawcett | California Court of Appeal, 3rd District | 2018 |
| Sherry Williamson | Texas Court of Appeals, 11th District | 2019 |
| Susan Stokley Clary | Kentucky Supreme Court | 2020 |
| Daniel E. Shearouse | South Carolina Supreme Court | 2021 |
| Blake A. Hawthorne | Supreme Court of Texas | 2022 |
| Edward W. Hosken Jr. | U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit | 2023 |
| John Tarlton Olivier | Louisiana Supreme Court | 2024 |
| Laura Roy | Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District | 2025 |