To qualify for consideration for a Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award, the individual must have been:
- Fundamentally responsible for the invention, development, marketing and/or promotion of product(s) that gained widespread use and which fundamentally changed some aspect of shooting sports equipment or related products for the better.
- Influence of the nominee’s work must demonstrably extend beyond the actual product(s) themselves; have spawned imitators or offshoots.
- Through his work, nominee(s) must have contributed to the goals and mission of the National Rifle Association and be a member(s) in good standing.
- Not intended as a posthumous award; individual nominee(s) or at least some member(s) of the winning team or partnership must be alive in the year during which the nomination is made (i.e., year prior to the award ceremony); however, deceased nominees meeting this criteria will be eligible.