Hay Festival Medals

Awarded annually since Britain’s Olympic year (2012), and crafted locally by silversmith Christopher Hamilton, the Hay Festival Medals draw inspiration from the original Olympic medal given for poetry.

Hay Festival medals in 2024 are awarded to five world-changing storytellers, honouring exceptional work in poetry, music, drama, broadcasting and non-fiction:

Huw Stephens (Medal for Music) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens is the winner of the BAFTA Cymru award for the Best On-Screen Presenter for the music documentary Anorac, he has presented multiple TV programmes for the BBC, Including Wales: Music Nation, The Story of Welsh Art and coverage from Glastonbury Festival. He presents Other Voices for RTE and various programmes for S4C, and is co-founder of Sŵn music festival and the Welsh Music Prize. Watch his medal event now. 

Judi Dench (Medal for Drama) is one of the world's most celebrated actresses. She has won numerous major awards for work on both stage and screen - including an Academy Award, ten BAFTAs and a record eight Olivier Awards. In recognition of her many achievements she received an OBE in 1970, became a DBE in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour. Talking at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye 2024 she explores every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra.

Lemn Sissay (Medal for Poetry) is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has authored collections of poetry and plays and his memoir My Name is Why was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. His Landmark poems are visible in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics and his new collection of poetry Let the Light Pour In, showcases a collection of poems he has written over the last decade as dawn breaks.

Gary Lineker (Medal for Broadcasting and Sports) is one of football's most successful players ever, with a long running career in broadcast media, Lineker's latest act has seen him launch a podcasting empire. As founder of Goalhanger Productions, he produces hit shows The Rest is History, The Rest is Football and The Rest is Politics, adding much-needed nuance and insight into our national discourse. Watch his medal event now.

Laura Bates (Medal for Non-fiction) is an activist, writer, speaker and journalist. Founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of women's daily experience of gender inequality. Previously Hay Festival Thinker in Residence 2023, her books include Everyday Sexism, Men Who Hate Women, Girl Up and Misogynation. Watch her medal event now.

HAY FESTIVAL MEDAL RECIPIENTS