Prior to 1946 the New Zealand armed forces received honours of the United Kingdom, including military decorations and campaign medals. Since the end of World War 2 there have been constant moves towards an independent New Zealand honours system. This has resulted in a new system of New Zealand honours, gallantry and bravery awards, and campaign medals.

The following are a list, in order of precedence as defined in references below. Those campaign medals which have been independently issued by New Zealand to its armed forces are in bold.^[1]