Dion William Latta (15) died in Dunedin Hospital after being trapped for three hours in the Motatapu Gorge near Wanaka on January 1, 2012.
Two men involved in his rescue, Jeffrey Simmers, of Waikoikoi, and Latham Wardhaugh, of Dunedin, were awarded Bronze Medals from the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull presented the medals to the men on behalf of the Governor-General yesterday morning.
He said the medals recognised ''their courage and selfless exposure of themselves to extreme risk in assisting with the rescue of Dion Latta in very difficult circumstances over an extended period of time''.
Following the ceremony, the pair told the Otago Daily Times they had ''mixed emotions'' about the rescue.
''It was a successful rescue, but had an unsuccessful outcome,'' Mr Wardhaugh said.
''You have to try. We did try and we tried our hardest ... but unfortunately it didn't work, so it is hard to feel good about an award.''
The pair noted the collective effort by everyone at the scene, ''and everyone involved gave 110%'', Mr Simmers said.
Exceeding their rescue efforts was ''the fight that Dion showed''.
''His determination and will to live, and his ability to stay calm, stayed with everyone.''
The pair said they would never forget the ordeal, and noted there was nothing they would have done differently.
Inspector Andrew Burns, of the Southern police district, said although the ceremony was tinged with sadness, the medals recognised the bravery of people in the community.
''The level that these guys went to far outweighed what you would expect of a normal person.''
The pair worked for two hours until members of the Wanaka-based Search and Rescue team, which they had alerted, arrived and took control.
Once free, Dion lost consciousness and was revived, before being flown to hospital,, in a critical condition, by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter.
He died early the next morning, as a result of ''immersion hypothermia'', Otago Southland coroner David Crerar found.
In May, LandSAR Wanaka and the Wanaka police search and rescue squad each received a New Zealand Search and Rescue Certificate of Achievement for an important contribution to search and rescue, as a result of their actions that day.
