Kentucky Colonel Award Winners List
The complete list of persons that have received the Kentucky Colonel Commission is lengthly to say the least there are over 300,000 people that have received a Kentucky Colonel Commission from one of 55 of its 59 governors that have served the state. Two of the governors never had an opportunity to name any colonels on their staff because they died in office shortly after their elections.
Non Exhaustive List of Recognized Persons that Behold the Honorable Title "Colonel" (Project 2023-2025)
Due to personal privacy laws we cannot publish the entire list of persons that have been named a Kentucky Colonel, despite it being awarded under the auspices of a public act. This section does reflect Kentucky colonels that we discover in the news media, in the social media that have shown their commissions or have requested to be included on this list of Kentucky colonels.
The state records can be visited and accessed in the State Capitol in Frankfort in person. The Governor's Office will not confirm who is or is not a Kentucky Colonel, they do not maintain a database of all that have been granted the award. According to the Commonwealth, at the beginning of the 20th century the State Capitol burned, all the important records were lost in the fire, so it is not likely a complete list can be assembled. The most accomplished colonels did their work prior to the commission becoming a civil award in 1896 under the governor.
Add your Name to our List (November 2022)
To add your name to this list take a 800 to 1600 pixel wide PNG or JPG photo holding your commission by placing it in Google Photos and making the photo public, make sure you add your personal metadata and contextual description of the photo. The photo can also contain the geolocation, the camera data, date, time, etc; some of these settings can only be edited using the camera or a photo editing app. You can edit the photo in Google Photos or you can use the Online Image Editor that we use..
Once your photo is ready:
Email us a link - Subj: (The List) along with your full name on the commission "Honorable __________ __________", the date you were commissioned, and the name of the governor that commissioned you. A form will be developed for this in the future, but for now it is just old-fashioned email. Other links can be included in your email our webmaster will connect them to your profile record which is automatically created when your email is received. Send your email to kycolonelcy@gmail.com a volunteer will stylize your name preceded with the abbreviation "Col." and link your name to your photo or webpage. Photos using a Facebook/Meta URL or a LinkedIn URL are not acceptable because they have already been published, all photos must be on Google Photos or a personal website. Pinterest and Flickr links are also acceptable. Photos under 800 pixels or over 1600 pixels wide will not be accepted.
