Feb 11, 2026 - Business

Trump adds "undisputed champion" of coal to recent awards haul

Rebecca Falconer

President and CEO of Peabody Energy Jim Grech, in a dark suit holding a miner statue trophy, standing next to President Trump, in a blue suit, with mining workers in helmets clapping behind them, U.S. flags in the background. — Jim Grech, president and CEO of Peabody Energy, presents the "Undisputed Champion of Coal" award to President Trump in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Trump was awarded the "Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal" trophy during a White House event on his latest fossil fuel drive Wednesday.

The big picture: The award that Peabody Energy executive Jim Grech gave Trump at the event celebrating Trump's signing of an order directing the Pentagon to procure electricity from coal-fired power plants is the latest in a series of prizes bestowed on the president during his second term.

It's the second inaugural award Trump has received in three months, following the FIFA Peace Prize that "close friend" Gianni Infantino, president of soccer's global governing body, gave him after the commander in chief lost his bid for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado later presented her 2025 Nobel medal to Trump despite the prestigious award's committee saying it couldn't be transferred to others.

Yes, but: Trump has been named the recipient of several prestigious prizes in the past few months — including the Israel Prize, which Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Wednesday invited Trump to accept in person during a May ceremony in Jerusalem, to be held on the 78th Independence Day of the State of Israel.

He's being awarded the prize in the category of "Unique Contribution to the Jewish People" in "recognition of his extraordinary contribution and its lasting impact on the Jewish people in Israel and around the world," Kisch said on X Wednesday, per an auto-translation.
Other awards include:

Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor: Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in an October statement Trump was receiving his country's highest honor in recognition of his role in the historic Gaza ceasefire deal that saw the remaining Hamas hostages freed, the Abraham Accords normalizing ties between Israel and several Arab nations and for his support to the country.

Grand Order of Mugunghwa: Trump became in October the first U.S. president to be presented with South Korea's highest national order due to his contributions to the Korean peninsula as a "peacemaker," the office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in a statement at the time.

Order of the Nile: Egypt gave Trump its top honor in October for brokering the peace deal between Israel's government and Hamas.

Go deeper: The gifts Trump has gotten while in office

Add Axios on Google

Trump adds "undisputed champion" of coal to recent awards haul

What to read next