The William Richardson Davie Award was established by the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the meeting of June 22, 1984.
| Recipient | Year Received |
| Charles Milton Shaffer | 1984 |
| Albert Coates | 1984 |
| Hargrove “Skipper” Bowles | 1985 |
| J. Norman McCaskill | 1985 |
| William Brantley Aycock | 1986 |
| Archibald Kimbrough Davis | 1986 |
| Thomas Jackson White, Jr. | 1986 |
| Frank Hawkins Kenan | 1986 |
| Howard Holderness | 1986 |
| Edward Michael O’Herron | 1986 |
| Bowman Gray, III (posthumously) | 1986 |
| Ernest Warriner Williamson | 1986 |
| J. Scott Cramer | 1987 |
| Sarah Virginia Dunlap | 1987 |
| Bernard J. Flatow | 1987 |
| Anne E. Queen | 1987 |
| J. Carlyle Sitterson | 1987 |
| Arnold K. King | 1987 |
| George Watts Hill, Sr. | 1988 |
| C. Knox Massey, Sr. | 1988 |
| John A. Tate, Jr. | 1988 |
| William C. Friday | 1989 |
| Frank B. Hanes, Sr. & Barbara Lasater Hanes | 1989 |
| Ralph N. Strayhorn, Jr. | 1989 |
| J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders | 1989 |
| James G. Exum, Jr. | 1990 |
| Margaret T. Harper | 1990 |
| Lloyd M. Jard | 1990 |
| Thomas W. Lambeth | 1990 |
| Anne W. Cates | 1991 |
| Hugh M. Morton, Sr. | 1991 |
| William J. Armfield, IV | 1992 |
| Irwin Belk | 1992 |
| Hugh L. McColl, Jr. | 1992 |
| Julian H. Robertson, Jr. | 1992 |
| Elizabeth S. Dowd | 1993 |
| Robert C. Eubanks, Jr. | 1993 |
| Howard N. Lee | 1993 |
| Sherwood H. Smith, Jr. | 1993 |
| Timothy B. Burnett | 1994 |
| Paul J. Rizzo | 1994 |
| Marc Basnight | 1995 |
| Thomas Stephen Kenan III | 1995 |
| Maurice John Koury | 1995 |
| William Octavius McCoy | 1995 |
| Earl Norfleet Phillips, Jr. | 1995 |
| Anthony Eden Rand | 1995 |
| Max Carroll Chapman, Jr. | 1996 |
| Gladys Hall Coates | 1996 |
| Thomas Francis Kearns, Jr. | 1996 |
| Charles Milton Shaffer, Jr. | 1996 |
| Charles Kuralt (posthumously) | 1997 |
| John Lassiter Sanders | 1997 |
| John Williams Harris | 1997 |
| David Livingstone Ward, Jr. | 1997 |
| Ann Lewallen Spencer | 1998 |
| James Millis, Sr. | 1998 |
| Paul Fulton | 1998 |
| Raymond Dawson | 1998 |
| Carmen Hooker Buell | 1999 |
| Michael Hooker (posthumously) | 1999 |
| Edward Hooper Hardison | 1999 |
| Richard Hampton Jenrette | 1999 |
| George Harvey Johnson | 1999 |
| Woody Durham | 2000 |
| James Andrew Harrell, Sr. | 2000 |
| Ben M. Jones III | 2000 |
| R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. | 2000 |
| Erskine Boyce Bowles | 2001 |
| John Woodfin Burress, III | 2001 |
| Walter Royal Davis | 2001 |
| Edward Calvin Smith, Jr. | 2001 |
| N. Ferebee Taylor | 2001 |
| Christopher C. Fordham III | 2002 |
| Henry E. Frye | 2002 |
| C. Dixon Spangler, Jr. | 2002 |
| Elizabeth Price Kenan——Declined | |
| James G. Kenan III———-Declined | |
| Mary Anne Dickson | 2003 |
| Dr. William R. Jordan | 2003 |
| Dean E. Smith | 2003 |
| Van L. Weatherspoon | 2003 |
| Harvey Elliott Beech | 2004 |
| Paul Hardin | 2004 |
| William Burwell Harrison, Jr. | 2004 |
| Charles McKimmon Winston, Sr. | 2004 |
| James Graham Kenan III——Declined | |
| Marjorie Buckley | 2005 |
| Donald W. Curtis | 2005 |
| Frank A. Daniels, Jr. | 2005 |
| Richard (Dick) J. Richardson | 2005 |
| Alan T. Dickson | 2006 |
| Leonard G. Herring | 2006 |
| James E.S. Hynes | 2006 |
| Allen B. Morgan, Jr. | 2006 |
| The Honorable Melvin L. Watt | 2006 |
| J. Joseph Hackney | 2007 |
| Willard Joseph Overlock, Jr. | 2007 |
| George Kennedy Thompson | 2007 |
| Patricia Timmons-Goodson | 2007 |
| Vaughn & Nancy Bryson | 2008 |
| Peter T. Grauer | 2008 |
| C. Knox Massey, Jr. | 2008 |
| James H. Winston | 2008 |
| Frederic Neville Eshelman | 2009 |
| Richard Krasno | 2009 |
| Beverly Eaves Perdue | 2009 |
| Richard T. (Stick) Williams | 2009 |
| Linda Garrou | 2010 |
| Dennis Gillings | 2010 |
| James Moeser | 2010 |
| Richard Stevens | 2010 |
| Joan Gillings | 2011 |
| Bernadette Gray-Little | 2011 |
| Luther H. Hodges, Jr. | 2011 |
| Nelson Schwab | 2011 |
| Barbara Fordham | 2012 |
| Julia Sprunt Grumbles | 2012 |
| Barbara Hardin | 2012 |
| Brenda Kirby | 2012 |
| Sara McCoy | 2012 |
| Susan Moeser | 2012 |
| Diane Taylor | 2012 |
| Hugh McAllister | 2013 |
| Karol Mason | 2013 |
| Roger Perry | 2013 |
| David Frey | 2013 |
| Betty Kenan——-Declined | |
| Russell M. Carter | 2014 |
| John G. Ellison, Jr. | 2014 |
| Michael Kennedy | 2014 |
| Sallie Krawcheck | 2014 |
| Donald Stallings | 2014 |
| Billie J. Stallings | 2014 |
| Michael Zollicoffer | 2014 |
| Lucius E. Burch III | 2015 |
| Roy H. Park, Jr. | 2015 |
| Betty Ray McCain | 2015 |
| Mary Cain Driscoll——–Declined | |
| Barbara Hyde——-Declined | |
| Joseph R. “Pitt” Hyde——-Declined | |
| Joseph R. “Pitt” Hyde | 2016 |
| Barbara Hyde | 2016 |
| Teresa Artis Neal | 2016 |
| Robert W. Winston III | 2016 |
| Sallie Shuping-Russell | 2017 |
| Alston Gardner | 2017 |
| John Townsend | 2017 |
| Sheldon Peck | 2017 |
| Munroe Cobey | 2018 |
| James Peacock | 2018 |
| Kay Weatherspoon | 2018 |
| Leonard Wood | 2018 |
| Teresa H. Williams | 2019 |
| James Arthur “Art” Pope | 2019 |
| H. Kel Landis III | 2019 |
| David E. Pardue Jr. | 2020 |
| Joan Huntley (posthumously) | 2020 |
| Phillip L. Clay | 2020 |
| Steve Vetter & Debbie Vetter | 2020 |
| Roy Williams & Wanda Williams | 2021 |
| Tim Moore | 2021 |
| Jean Almand Kitchin | 2021 |
| Robyn Shernita Hadley | 2021 |
| Roy Cooper | 2021 |
| Valerie Sheares Ashby | 2022 |
| W. Lowry Caudill | 2022 |
| William “Bill” A. Keyes IV | 2022 |
| Richard A. Vinroot | 2022 |
| Terrence V. Burroughs | 2023 |
| William W. Cobey Jr. | 2023 |
| Edith A. Hubbard | 2023 |
| Charles E. Lovelace Jr. | 2023 |
| Genna Rae McNeil | 2023 |
| Dwight D. Stone | 2023 |