Could someone explain to me what an interim award is?

Basically, an Interim award is given in lieu of another award in which there may not be time left on station for the whole process to run it's course in order for the Awardee to receive the actual award. Once the actual award is processed and given, then the Interim Award is revoked. This, of course, is my paraphrasing. If you wish to research this more, look it up in AR 600-8-22. But, as a caveat, if you are writing a recommendation for a specific event and not EOT award, then you really won't need to write it as an Interim. You can easily leave that box blank.

Only time that I've ever heard of it used is when there is a recommendation for a MOH. A DSC is awarded until all the witness statements, investigations, etc are completed and it runs through all the channels, which could take years, even decades*, to be approved. If approved, the DSC is revoked and replaced by the MOH. I guess it could be used for others, but the process is much quicker for lessor awards than MOH and therefore not as necessary to have an interim award.


*Seems it not been that long ago that President Trump presented one to a SPEC5 for action in RVN, not unusual, though.