Acting and Production Arts Gold Medal winners announced for 2025

Following the end of the 2024/25 academic year, Guildhall School is proud to announce the winners of the School’s most prestigious annual prize, the Gold Medal, in Acting and Production Arts. 

The winner of the 2025 Acting Gold Medal is  Aisha-Mae McCormick, who has just completed the BA (Hons) in Acting. The award is given to the student who, in the opinion of the Acting staff, has most embraced the spirit and ethos of the training. 

During her time at the School, Aisha-Mae’s roles in Guildhall productions included Katherine in The Life of King Henry VIII: All is True (dir Owen Horsley), Young Woman/Principal/FOUR in No Particular Order (dir Anna Morrissey), Archbishop in The Empathy Stone (dir Helen Iley, part of Hidden in Plain Sight) and Friendship 1 in Everybody (dir Breman Rajkumar). Outside of the School, Aisha-Mae recently played Susanna Walcott in Ola Ince’s production of The Crucible at the Globe Theatre.  

On being awarded the Gold Medal, Aisha-Mae said: “I am deeply honoured to be the recipient of the Gold Medal for Acting and to follow in the footsteps of so many incredible alumni. Being at Guildhall has changed my life completely – in many ways there are no words to express how thankful I am for the amazing three years I’ve spent here and to the teaching staff that have aided my training with such vigour, kindness and generosity. 

“I’ve expanded as an artist in ways I could have only dreamed of, but most importantly, changed to become the person I am today. Another huge part of this journey has been my incredible cohort which have been my family, not just friends, for these past three years, and to whom I will be forever thankful. My time at Guildhall has been a journey but I’m very excited to see what the future holds, not just for myself, but for the whole of the 2025 graduating year! It’s been a journey I’ll never forget!” 

The Production Arts Gold Medal was awarded to Lauren Jones who has just completed the BA (Hons) in Production Arts (Design Realisation pathway). The award is given to a student who, in the opinion of the Production Arts staff, has consistently surpassed all expectations in whatever role they have undertaken, demonstrating exceptional interpersonal skills and making a significant contribution to the department. Lauren was also awarded The Lord Mayor’s Prize and is the winner of the Hazel Sharples Memorial Prize for 2025, awarded to an outstanding Guildhall School third-year Production Arts student and unique amongst the School’s student prizes in that the winner is voted for by their peers.  

In her final year, Lauren has undertaken the following roles on Guildhall productions: Scenic Art Coordinator for Die Fledermaus (des Adam Wiltshire), No Particular Order (des Charlotte Henery) and Loveplay (des Amelia Jane Hankin); Associate Designer and Prop Maker for Mansfield Park (des Anna Reid); Props Coordinator for Spring Opera Scenes (des Helen Hebert) and The Winter’s Tale (des Hugo Aguirre); Lead Prop Maker for Dido & Aeneas (des by Alisa Kalyanova) and Orlando (des Charlotte Henery); and Scenic Art Coordinator for Opera Makers (des by Lu Herbert). 

On receiving the Production Arts Gold Medal, Lauren said: “I was totally speechless when I heard that I’d been awarded the Gold Medal – it is a huge honour to win three prizes, especially as I was so lucky to study alongside such an amazingly talented cohort of Production Arts students. I’ve had a brilliant time at Guildhall over the past three years, learning from my incredible tutors, creating new work and getting the chance to be involved with so many extracurricular projects. In particular, I’ve loved delivering workshops for the School’s Backstage Roadshow outreach programme. I am very excited to head out into the industry now as a freelance Scenic Artist and Prop Maker and see what it has in store!” 

Other end of year prize-winners for 2025 include, for Acting, Sophie McGibbon (Chair’s Prize) and Liberty Dearsley (Deputy Chair’s Prize), and for Production Arts, Eli Hunt (Lord Mayor's Consort Prize). 

Find out more about studying Acting or Production Arts at Guildhall School.