The British Academy President's Medal

In 2024, the President's Medal was awarded to the award-winning British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, for her excellent body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range. Her storytelling bravely tackles sensitive topics such as conflict, gender equality, human rights, ecology and the environmental crisis, with scholarly rigour and intellectual force.

Shafak has published 20 books, 13 of which are novels, and her books have been translated into 57 languages.

She holds a PhD in political science, and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College.

Shafak is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has been chosen among the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women.

"I am truly delighted and deeply honoured to receive the British Academy’s President’s Medal. As a storyteller and a novelist, I am not only interested in stories past and present, but also in silences. Literature is a natural bridge-builder; it connects hearts and minds, cultures and continents. I am interested in novels of ideas that draw upon multiple disciplines of learning and thinking. I am equally interested in bringing together written and oral cultures.

"Fiction opens up a much needed and nuanced space for even the most sensitive and complex issues of our times. It encourages empathy, connectivity and understanding, especially in these fractured times. I am very grateful to the British Academy for this recognition."

- Elif Shafak, August 2024

2023 was the first time the President's Medal was awarded to a podcast or any type of broadcast programme, in recognition of The Rest is History’s work to present historical research in an engaging and accessible way to a wider audience and provide a platform for a range of academics to engage the public with their expertise.

Since first airing in late 2020, The Rest is History has provided in-depth explorations into a diverse and complex set of historical topics ranging across time and place from antiquity and the ancient world to the life and death of John F. Kennedy. The podcast had been downloaded 150 million times when the medal was awarded.

"It’s an enormous honour to be awarded the President’s Medal, and one we could never have anticipated when we began our podcast. At a time when historical debates are often so strident and simplistic, our goal has always been to share our enthusiasm for the past, with all its thrilling complexity, with the widest possible audience. We love history, and we love talking about it. But we’ve only been able to do that with the help of our brilliant young production team, and this award is for them, too."

- Podcast hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, 2023

The British Academy awarded the 2022 President’s Medal to Full Fact in recognition of its work finding, exposing and countering misinformation and misleading claims and to the organisation, rather than any one individual, to highlight the importance of effective teamwork and collaboration.

Founded in 2008 by a cross-party group, Full Fact is a team of independent fact checkers and campaigners who seek to safeguard democracy by countering the spread of mis- and disinformation in the public sphere.

"We are thrilled that the Academy has shown such leadership in choosing to give the award to a team for the first time. We think this message from the Academy is timely and important. Full Fact's team has had to respond to all kinds of challenges in the past few years – including UK politics, the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine – and risen to them all. This recognition is well timed to celebrate all that."

- Will Moy, Chief Executive of Full Fact, 2022

Professor David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, best known as the author of Black and British: A Forgotten History and presenter of acclaimed documentaries, such as the BAFTA-winning Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners and Black and British: A Forgotten History and the current A House Through Time.

He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and received an OBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services to history and to community integration.

The British Academy has awarded the 2021 President’s Medal in 2021 to Professor David Olusoga in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the humanities and social sciences.

"It is an extraordinary and unexpected honour to be awarded the President's Medal. Throughout my career, whether writing history or bringing stories from the past to television, I have believed that history and the humanities must be made available to everyone and include everyone’s stories. At a time when calls for inclusivity have never been louder, I'm thrilled to have my work so generously recognised by the British Academy."

- Professor David Olusoga, 2021

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author, novelist, poet and cultural and environmental activist.

Twice a winner of the Booker Prize, she is world-renowned writer of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels, whose work has been published in more than 45 countries.

Throughout her 50-year career she has become known for her exploration of issues such as gender and identity, faith, politics and ecology, with notable works including The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and its much anticipated sequel The Testaments (2019), The Blind Assassin (2000), Hag-Seed (2016), and Dearly (2020), her first poetry collection in over a decade.

Her work has been adapted for stage and screen bringing her novels to the attention of a new generation of readers. In addition to her prolific career as a writer, she is also celebrated for her environmental activism.

The medal has been awarded in recognition of her outstanding contributions to literature.

"It is a great honour to accept the British Academy President’s Medal. The Academy’s role in the promotion, development and funding of scholarship in the literary and social sciences is much needed when facts and truth in public policy are under assault."

– Margaret Atwood, 2020

Dr Ben Goldacre is a clinician, academic, campaigner and best-selling author. He wrote the ‘Bad Science’ column in the Guardian for a decade, fighting the misuse of science by everyone from politicians to journalists and researchers; his books have sold over 600,000 copies in 30 languages.

He co-founded the AllTrials campaign for transparency around clinical research, and has worked on better use of data and evidence with the Cabinet Office, Department of Health, Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice. He currently runs the DataLab at the University of Oxford.

"This is very kind. It’s sad to say that the work I do with colleagues – evaluating and generating evidence – can sometimes be very unpopular. So for this medal, and the very fact that your medals exist, many thanks: I feel grateful, and ever more motivated!"

- Dr Ben Goldacre, July 2019

Zeinab Badawi, Journalist and President of the Royal African Society; John Hemming, Author and explorer; Andreas Gestrich; William Dalrymple, Author and Co-Founder of ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival; Dame Frances Cairncross, Chair of the Court, Herriot Watt University.

Claudia Hammond, BBC Radio 4; Katie Mitchell; Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation; Professor James Stevens Curl, University of Ulster; Professor Helga Nowotny, ETH Zurich.

Dr Roger Bland, University of Leicester; Dr Leofranc Holford-Strevens, classical scholar and polymath; Dame Hilary Mantel, author;
Professor Sir Stanley Wells CBE, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Dr Peter V Addyman, formerly York Archaeological Trust and Jorvik Viking Centre; Darren Henley, Arts Council England; Dr Elizabeth Livingstone, theologian; Professor Michael Wood, University of Manchester.

Peter Brook, Centre International de Créations Théâtrales; Sir Paul Collier, University of Oxford; Dame Jane Goodall, Jane Goodall Institute; Clive James, author, broadcaster and poet.

Ms Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty; Baroness Jean Coussins, House of Lords; Sir Peter Stothard, Editor of the Times Literary Supplement; Lord Williams of Oystermouth FBA, Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Professor Warwick Gould, Institute of English Studies, University of London; The Right Reverend Professor Lord Harries of Pentregarth; Professor Lisa Jardine, University College London; Professor Sir John Vickers FBA, University of Oxford.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of the Barbican Centre; Dr Gillian Tett, Assistant Editor, Financial Times; Ms Sharon Witherspoon, Deputy Director of the Nuffield Foundation.

Dr Sarah Tyacke, Distinguished Research Fellow, School of Advanced Study, University of London; Professor Michael Worton, Vice Provost (Academic and International) and Fielden Professor of French Language and Literature, University College London; Rt Hon Peter Riddell, Institute for Government.

We are looking to recognise outstanding individuals, groups or organisations that have:

• Demonstrated dedication to multiple initiatives over several years, which have strengthened and championed their discipline or disciplines
• Informed and enriched public debates around society’s greatest questions, utilising creativity, imagination, knowledge and insight to make contributions to understanding ourselves and society’s greatest challenges
• Been widely recognised, both by specialists and non-specialists, for mobilising the humanities or social sciences for the benefit of everyone, sharing their research to enable people to learn, progress and prosper
• Shown commitment to opening up their discipline, inspiring new, curious minds to engage with the humanities and social sciences

Previous recipients of the President’s Medal include:

• The Rest is History podcast for entertaining yet intellectually rigorous podcasts that have increased the public interest in history
• Full Fact for accurate and insightful journalism that has contributed to greater public understanding and awareness of misinformation and misleading claims
• David Olusoga for the championing of inclusive approaches to British and international history and how we understand our collective histories
• Margaret Atwood for inspiring decades of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences with novels and poetry that explore issues around gender, faith, politics and ecology
• Ben Goldacre for campaigning for the need for evidence- and reason-based approaches to problem solving

Recipients cannot be Fellows of the British Academy but could be individuals (e.g., academics, policymakers, members of the public, media, or business) or organisations (e.g., universities, corporations, charities, broadcasters).

Nominations for this award are open from 1 December 2024 to 31 January 2025 and may only be made by Fellows of the British Academy.

Entries should be submitted via this submissions form.

Nominations will be reviewed, and the winner selected, by the President of the British Academy.

If you have any queries submitting a nomination, please email [email protected].