A pair of Tri-Cities residents have been awarded a prestigious medal in honour of the Queen's time on the throne.

Coquitlam business man Fred Soofi and Alderson Elementary principal John Goheen were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recently.

The award - just 60,000 citizens received the prestigious medal - is handed out to honour people who made significant contributions to Canada.

Soofi was nominated by the Iranian Canadian Foundation for his contribution to the community.

The long-time Coquitlam resident is a board member of the PoCoMo Youth Society, Laurel Foundation, and also contributes to many other Tri-Cities organizations including SHARE Family and Community Services, Coquitlam Farmers Market and others.

"I am very honoured to receive this prestigious medal, and believe every citizen should participate and contribute as much as they are able to their community and country," Soofi said in an e-mail to The NOW.

Goheen was nominated by Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command for his work for the Legion's Pilgrimage of Remembrance.

He received the medal in a surprise ceremony last month while visiting family in Brantford Ont.

The award was a surprise to Goheen, who had just returned from France the day prior after doing some research for his 2013 tour, noted his family in an e-mail to The NOW.

For more than a decade, Goheen has been running tours of European war sites for the Royal Canadian Legion.

It wasn't the first medal for the principal's work to keeping alive the memory of the many men and women who gave their lives in the wars and military missions around the world.

Goheen was awarded the Legion's highest honour with the Meritorious Service Medal for the Pilgrimage of Remembrance a few years back.

A new commemorative medal was created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada.