Anil Chopra has been awarded the 2013 Norman Medal, the oldest and highly prized award of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); it is widely considered as the award for the "best" paper among all journals published by ASCE. He was recognized for the paper “Earthquake Analysis of Arch Dams: Factors to be considered,” published in the Journal of Structural Engineering.
He has been the recipient of several ASCE Awards including the 1998 Ernest E. Howard Award, the 1993 Nathan M. Newark Medal, the 2001, 1991 and 1979 Norman Medals, the 1989 Raymond C. Reese Research Prize, and the 1975 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize. Receiving the Norman Medal four times is a rare distinction, achieved only for the second time in the long history of ASCE.