Michael Roberts Memorial Prize

The British Art Medal Society is an organisation dedicated to promoting medallic art, which runs an annual student competition. The competition was conceived as a means of re-introducing the art of the modern medal into art colleges within Great Britain. In 2023 the student competition celebrated its 30th year and attracted a record 165 entries from 22 universities across the UK and Germany. Judging took place in the British Museum.

Lucy Smith won one of ten prizes awarded as part of the the competition. The entire exhibition of medals, was exhibited at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, during May of the same year.

The winning medal is directly related to Lucy's PhD project to develop immersive ways of teaching science through art. A 7ft-tall permanent sculpture – called The Analemma Sundial – that she created was installed at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden in 2023. The medal, ‘Perihelion, Aphelion’ mirrors this installation on a miniature scale.