Medals – Hay Festival (original) (raw)

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 2025 are awarded to three world-changing storytellers, honouring exceptional work in fiction, drama and prose:

Ruth Jones (Medal for Drama) is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She co-created and co-starred in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Appearing on the Hay Festival 2025 to discuss the legacy of Gavin & Stacey and to present her new novel, By Your Side, a story about finding joy in the most unlikely connections, and the importance of holding on to friendship, love and community – especially when life gets messy.

Michael Morpurgo (Medal for Fiction) is one of Britain’s best loved children’s authors, having written over 150 books, he has served as Children’s Laureate and won many awards, including the Smarties Prize, the Writers Guild Award, the Whitbread Award, the Blue Peter Book Award, and the Eleanor Fareon Lifetime Achievement Award. Watch his medal event here. Morpurgo was Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005 and is currently President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.

Elif Shafak (Medal for Prose) is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and the most widely read female author in Turkey. Her books include The Island of Missing Trees, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World and most recently There Are Rivers in the Sky. Her works have been translated into 57 languages and have been nominated for several literary awards.