The medal is circular, 39 millimetres in diameter, and made of silver or bronze.[1] The obverse bears the Arabic cypher of the Khedive, and the Hijri year of its establishment. The medal awarded in 1911 bears the cypher of Khedive Abba Hilmi, while that from 1918 shows the cypher of the Sultan Hussain Kamil. The reverse depicts a lion standing on a plinth bearing the word SUDAN with, behind, the sun rising above the flowing River Nile.[2] The medal hangs from a bar suspension, the 32 millimetre wide watered ribbon being black with thin red and green stripes on each side.