BRITISH ACADEMY UNVEILS PRESIDENT’S MEDAL

Lord of the Rings cartographer and ‘language made visible’ artist, Stephen Raw, has designed a new medal for the British Academy.

The British Academy President’s Medal, unveiled for the first time at a special awards ceremony in London on 25 November 2010, is awarded “for signal service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences”.  The first three recipients of this prestigious award are Dr Sarah Tyacke (formerly CEO of the National Archives), language learning advocate Professor Michael Worton and political journalist Peter Riddell.

The President’s Medal has taken four months to design and create, with the final drawings from Stephen Raw crafted into a 75mm bronzed metal medal produced by Spink Special Commissions Department.  Up to five President’s Medals may be be awarded annually.

http://www.britac.ac.uk/

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Lichfield Festival, the textual artist Stephen Raw was asked to work with a poem that was specially commissioned from the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The poem is entitled ‘A Lichfield History’.

The people of Lichfield were then invited to paint large, individual letters in workshops organised by Stephen and Festival staff. From these contributions Stephen created a collage to form the first verse of the poem. The result was a glorious, seven metre high banner which hung in the Cathedral throughout the Festival.

Every one of the contibutors – of all ages and abilities – who participated in the project, can be seen proudly showing their works of art on the Festival Banner website:

www.lichfieldfestivallp.wordpress.com

For more information call 01543 306275

Photo inside Lichfield Cathedral by Mark Zacarria