The Division of Organic Chemistry of the Società Chimica Italiana (DCO-SCI) and the European Journal of Organic Chemistry celebrate together, for the first time, the awardees of the Prizes and Medals of the Division 2020 and 2021. Guest Editor Prof. Maria Valeria D'Auria introduces the collection. For the first time, the Division of Organic Chemistry of the Società Chimica Italiana (DCO-SCI) and the European Journal of Organic Chemistry join forces to celebrate the awardees of the Prizes and Medals of the Division 2020 and 2021. This initiative is the natural extension of a series of collaborative actions between DCO-SCI and EurJOC, such as the launch of several special issues/collections, for instance, the one celebrating the 40 years of the DCO Ciamician Medal, and the support offered by Chemistry Europe and EurJOC through the sponsorship of a “EurJOC Lecture” at the annual meeting of the DCO-SCI. The DCO National Awards program is designed to encourage the advancement of the organic chemistry in all its subbranches, to support not only research in academia as well as in industry, but also the careers of organic chemists. The Board of the Division rigorously reviews the endorsement letters provided by at least three sponsors for each nominee and, following this review process, the Division of Organic Chemistry annually assigns medals dedicated to the memory of three great masters of the Italian organic chemistry school: Prof. Adolfo Quilico, Prof. Angelo Mangini, and Prof. Giacomo Ciamician. The medal “Giorgio Modena”, awarded biennially, was also recently established. Quilico, Mangini and Modena Medals are intended to thank and honor well-recognized researchers for their seminal work and outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the chemical sciences. On the other hand, the Ciamician Medal, which is awarded to researchers with less than eight years into his/her career, is aimed to encourage outstanding rising stars based on the excellence and innovation of their research. Additional eleven prizes are awarded to researchers who, at different stage of their career and in different research areas of organic chemistry, achieved outstanding results in their field of expertise. In particular, two prizes recognize the contributions of one senior and one junior researcher working in industry. These prizes are also intended to strengthen ties between our scientific society and industry as well as to promote the innovation and competitiveness of the Italian chemical industry. The awardees are commended during the Annual National of the Division and give a plenary talk reporting their most relevant achievements. This special collection celebrates the awardees of both 2020 and 2021 editions of the DCO National Awards program, and a complete list of the prize and medal recipients is reported in Table 1. Year Award Awardee 2020 Adolfo Quilico Medal Prof. Andrea Goti University of Firenze 2020 Angelo Mangini Medal Prof. Olga Bertolini University of Ferrara 2020 Giacomo Ciamician Medal Dr. Cristian Pezzato (ex aequo) University of Padova 2020 Giacomo Ciamician Medal Dr. Luka Đorđević (ex aequo) University of Padova 2020 Organic Chemistry for Environment, Energy, Nanoscience Prof. Lucia Pasquato University of Trieste 2020 Organic Chemistry for Life Science Award Prof. Francesco Peri University of Milano Bicocca 2020 Organic Chemistry in its Methodological Aspects Award Prof. Stefano Di Stefano University of Roma “La Sapienza” 2020 Organic Chemistry in Industry Award Dr. Matteo Zacchè Edmond Pharma/Recipharm group 2020 Organic Chemistry for Environment, Energy, Nanoscience Junior Award Dr. Giulia Tuci CNR, Florence 2020 Organic Chemistry for Life Science Junior Award Dr. Camilla Matassini University of Firenze 2020 Organic Chemistry in its Methodological Aspects Junior Award Dr. Paola Costanzo University of Calabria 2020 Organic chemistry in Industry Junior Award Dr. Ali Munaim Yousif IRBM S.p.A. 2020 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Giuseppe di Lauro University of Bari 2020 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Assunta D'Amato 2020 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Anna Esposito University of Napoli “Federico II” 2021 Adolfo Quilico Medal Prof. Anna Bernardi University of Milano 2021 Angelo Mangini Medal Prof. Paolo Tecilla University of Trieste 2021 Giacomo Ciamician Medal Dr. Pierangelo Gobbo University of Padova 2021 Giorgio Modena Medal Prof. Pierangelo Metrangolo Politecnico di Milano 2021 Organic Chemistry for Environment, Energy, Nanoscience Prof. Francesco Giacalone University of Palermo 2021 Organic Chemistry for Life Science Award Prof. Daniela Montesarchio University of Napoli “Federico II” 2021 Organic Chemistry in its Methodological Aspects Award Prof. Marco Lucarini University of Bologna 2021 Organic Chemistry in Industry Award Dr. Jacopo Roletto PROCOS S.p.A. 2021 Organic Chemistry for Environment, Energy, Nanoscience Junior Award Dr. Sara Meninno University of Salerno 2021 Organic Chemistry for Life Science Junior Award Dr. Elena Lenci University of Florence 2021 Organic Chemistry in its Methodological Aspects Junior Award Dr. Manuel Orlandi University of Padova 2021 Organic Chemistry in Industry Junior Award Dr. Nicolas D'Imperio DIPHARMA 2021 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Mirko Maturi University of Bologna 2021 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Gabriele Laudadio University of Milano 2020 PhD Thesis Award Dr. Anna Esposito University of Napoli “Federico II” Most awardees have accepted our invitation to contribute to this virtual collection with an original Research Article or a Review. EurJOC also offered the opportunity to highlight each article on the front cover of EurJOC free of charge. This allowed several teams to give free rein to their creative imagination, resulting in very attractive front covers (Figure 1). EurJOC Front Covers provided by the 2020/2021 awardees. This special collection provides a broad overview of the Italian state-of-the-art research in organic chemistry, through a selection of latest applications and concepts from different laboratories. The analysis of the topics covered in the present collection clearly demonstrates that the Italian organic chemistry research is able to face the most relevant present societal challenges in several interdisciplinary fields, such as bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, molecular recognition, development of molecular machines as well as energy storage. The development of innovative synthetic methodologies still plays a significant role in this respect. The proposed synthetic approaches offer ideas and solutions to increasing demands of high efficiency, total stereocontrol, and fulfillment of green chemistry principles. Prof. Maria Valeria D'Auria President of the DCO-SCI (2020–2022) The opinions expressed in this publication are the view of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, the Publisher, Chemistry Europe, or the affiliated editors.