[2] Governor John West created the Order of the Palmetto in 1971 to recognize lifetime achievement and service by South Carolina residents and those born in the state.
The eligibility criteria for the Order of the Silver Crescent was changed to make it an auxiliary award honoring achievement or service at the local level, without restrictions of age.
[3] In 2003, Governor Mark Sanford created a panel to establish firm criteria for award eligibility, with the goal of changing the perception that the order was a political send-off.
[5] Other notable recipients include novelist Pat Conroy, civil rights activist Septima Poinsette Clark, football coach Lou Holtz, naturalist Rudy Mancke, and musician James Brown.
[6] The award comes in the form of a certificate or plaque that, in part, reads: In grateful recognition of your contributions and friendship to the State of South Carolina and her people, I do hereby confer unto you the Order of the Palmetto with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto.