They could just say “Medal of Honour”. What the hell else it going to do other than be awarded to someone? 
Complain that its name is spelled wrong? ;).
It’s just a habit of speech in English to conjoin the word '“win” with any kind of medal. No offense is intended, and it’s not an insult to any of the recipients, so I think it’s kind of a fussy, prissy thing to care about.
Or the game, I guess. (“Hey, some dude in a fancy jacket won a free copy!”)
Some British comedian made fun of us for turning their “Millionare” into “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” because, I mean, what else is it going to be about? “Look at the millionaire!”?
Actually, it was “wins,” so four characters. How about “gets”? Same meaning as “receives” if not as formal. It also avoids the passive voice.
Though the word “win” may often imply a competetion, using it in this context certainly fits according to more than one of the definitions of “win”. Maybe it wasn’t the best possible word, but certainly not incorrect by definition by any means.
It’s incorrect but tacky? No.
It bothers me to see the word ‘win’ used in relation to most any high award from the military. Though I understand why it’s used. It does bother me when I see it, and it annoys me.
Though at least part of it is that I tend to view awards of higher level of medals to be something of a crap shoot. That I firmly believe there’s a large element of luck involved in which actions get recognition at that level, and which don’t simply makes me dislike the use of “win” for the awarding of these medals all the more.
I’ve been told I can be a bit persnickety, though. 
Move to Italy then. It won’t be a problem.
Yeah, did the young men who died in that action “lose”? Is this poor guy like a YouTube commenter whose “first” was, indeed, first?
One more camp member … and thanks for the extra info. I was looking at today’s WSJ cover when I had an idle moment, and was wondering what was behind that inscrutable face.
These issues are ultimately settled by public opinion (with some voices counting more than others because of status, tradition or volume.)
Personally it doesn’t bother me. There’s no disrespect intended.
I’ve also got no problem reading “She won the Nobel prize” or “His novel won the Pulitzer Prize that year.” It’s just an issue of usage, and I vote ehh.
“Gets” is an awful headline word, sorry. It’s the closest the active voice comes to being passive just by being bland and useless. It sucks any possible interest from the action words around it into its dull toothless maw. It’s headline beige.
Win can mean obtain. It’s not always about a contest.
Win fame, win attention, win affection, read more.
Sorry for the snark, bad day. 
You mean the “u”? I don’t normally think spelling differences are worth preserving, even in proper names, any more than you should always carefully pronounce “Medal of Honour” in an American accent or “Victoria Cross” in a British one. I would normally use British spelling, unless I was, say, editing an American-English book or newspaper. But maybe there is a tradition or benefit of having the SDMB, or American proper nouns, be American-English only that I don’t see.
I did exactly what you did and then “corrected” it to the American spelling. I think that proper nouns is one case where you should do this. My name is Jonathan, it is not Jonathon, Johnathon or Johnethin. The Australian Labor Party is an interesting case study. Despite the fact that the Australian spelling of “labour” has a “u” in it, the Australian Labor Party has the American spelling and this is thought to reflect the influence of the American labor movement of the early 1900s.
Yes, but those are all–in the contexts where you’d see those constructions–positives that were striven for. There’s still the connotation of achievement and victory.
Military medals aren’t really like that. Everybody I’ve known of who has a Purple Heart has been very proud of it, but would rather have not been shot or caught in the blast. Basically, nobody “wants” a medal.
Would you speak of “winning” a claim on a family member’s life insurance policy? “Winning” a payment from a victim compensation fund?
What? The Wikipedia entry on the show doesn’t indicate that the show was ever called just “Millionare” [sic] at any time.
Really? I assumed it was because of the comedian!