Awards, Honors, Community Service
Cunningham has been recognized for his leadership by his selection as one of the Jaycees’ Outstanding Young North Carolinians and with the Distinguished Service Award. In 2007, he was selected one of the Triad’s Forty Leaders Under Forty.
For his military service, Cunningham has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (3x), the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal (2x), the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device (2x) and the Parachutist Badge.
In 2009, Cunningham was awarded the General Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership as one of the outstanding company grade officers in the Army, including for his ground-breaking work in Iraq.
During college at UNC-Chapel Hill, Cunningham was inducted into the Golden Fleece Honorary Society and the Order of the Grail-Valkyries for his work in positions of student leadership. He was also inducted into the Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society for his academic work.
Cunningham appeared as a panelist on the American Public Television program, The Struggle for Moral Leadership, a series of two one-hour programs that explore ethics and morality in political leadership, which was moderated by Harvard University professor Arthur Miller and included political analyst George Stephanopoulos.
In 2007, Cunningham was selected for a Marshall Memorial Fellowship and traveled to Belgium, France, Italy, Denmark and Poland to meet with government and civic leaders about Trans-Atlantic security, combating Islamic extremism and terrorism.
Cunningham has received a Pro Bono Impact Award and recognition from Legal Aid of Forsyth County for legal representation of victims of domestic violence and of tenants in disputes with their landlords.
Cunningham served from 2002 to 2005 as a Deacon at the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington and a partial term in 2006-07 as an Elder on the Session. He resigned from the Session for his deployment to Iraq.
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