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China’s silk industry has a long history and advanced technology, but it gradually declined in modern times. With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, silk production gradually increased, and until the reform and opening up in 1978, it achieved great development in science and technology. Science and technology awards provide material and spiritual rewards for scientific discoveries and technological inventions. The state science and technology awards are one type of science and technology awards. They are currently the highest awards for science and technology in China. They have officially resumed awards since the reform and opening up in 1978. Currently, there are five awards. The silk award in the state science and technology awards represents the highest level of China’s silk technology and is also a witness to the development of silk technology since the reform and opening up. According to the statistics of this paper, the silk industry won 54 awards, with focus on the three awards of the State Natural Science Award, the State Technological Invention Award and the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. In this paper, the issue of the State Science and Technology Awards was divided into three time stages: 1979–1985, 1986–1999, and 2000–2020, and 54 silk award-winning achievements were divided into two parts: sericulture and industry. The regional distribution, transfer of research and development subjects, and the growth and decline of award-winning industries were analyzed, and the characteristics, laws and trends were further summarized to provide historical reference for future silk technology innovation. Five conclusions were drawn. First, the number and proportion of the State Science and Technology Awards for silk decreased but the quality increased, which was in line with the reform trend of China’s science and technology award system. Second, the largest number of silk awards in the Yangtze River Delta region shows that its silk research was in a leading position in China and had the characteristics of complementary sericulture and industry. The award-winning projects in other eight regions with relatively advanced silk technology were either sericulture or industry. Third, based on the type of the first contributor with the largest contribution and a leading role for statistics, the award-winning research institutions regarding sericulture had always been dominated by scientific research institutes in the three stages, while the award-winning research institutions in the silk industry had experienced a transfer from enterprises to universities. This shows that the current scientific research capabilities of silk enterprises have not been fully utilized. In the future, silk enterprises should strengthen scientific research innovation and conduct more cooperation. Fourth, silkworm varieties received the most awards in sericulture, followed by silkworm diseases and silkworm medicines, mulberry trees, and comprehensive utilization of silk resources. The focus of scientific research changed from silkworm diseases and silkworm medicines to silkworm varieties in the three stages, and the main objective changed from increasing production to improving quality. The industry received the most awards for machinery and equipment, followed by dyeing and finishing, silk weaving, and silk reeling. The focus of scientific research changed from machinery and equipment to dyeing and finishing in the three stages, and the main objective changed from both production scale and product quality to mainly improving production quality. Fifth, the accumulation of scientific research results and the improvement of the level of science and technology provide the possibility for sericulture and industry to break barriers and realize the extension of the industrial chain. In the future, the silk industry may achieve subversive development in genetic engineering and biomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]