2023 Gold Medal winners announced for Acting and Production Arts

10 August 2023

Guildhall School is proud to announce the winners of the School’s most prestigious annual prize, the Gold Medal, in Acting and Production Arts.

Headshots of Thomas Licence and Abdul Sessay side by side

The winner of the 2023 Acting Gold Medal is Abdul Sessay who has just completed the BA (Hons) Acting programme. 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 his time at Guildhall, Abdul has played Ross in Macbeth (dir. Ashley Zhangazha), George Gibbs in Our Town (dir. John Haidar) and Knowledge/Fellowship in Everyman (dir. Katherine Nesbitt). He also wrote, directed and starred in Pass Raid as his Solo Performance project. Outside of the School, Abdul took the lead role in Nike x Patta The Wave, a series of short films celebrating the reimagining of Nike’s iconic Air Max 1 silhouette, directed by Mahaneela with Steve McQueen acting as creative director and mentor.

On being awarded the Gold Medal, Abdul said: “I am super grateful to receive the Gold Medal for acting. These three years have flown by. Looking back, despite ups and downs, I have really loved being a part of Guildhall and I wouldn’t swap it for the world. A massive thank you to all our tutors for their passion and hard work and, of course, to the beautiful people I have been lucky enough to call my ensemble and my friends. Let’s see what the future brings – who knows we might just end up being a ‘vintage year’!”

The Production Arts Gold Medal goes to Thomas Jack Licence who has just completed the BA in Production Arts (Stage Management pathway) programme. 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.

In his final year Tom has been Deputy Stage Manager for the autumn opera triple bill (Massenet Le portrait de Manon, Smyth Fête galante, Rota I due timidi), Stage Manager for the summer opera double bill (Holst Sāvitri, Judith Weir Blond Eckbert) and Costume Supervisor for drama Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp. For his Graduation Project, Tom designed and created a Cinderella ‘peasant to princess’ costume reveal, where the performer pulls a cord and switches costume in three seconds.

On receiving the Production Arts Gold Medal, Tom said: “I am over the moon after finding out about winning the Gold Medal award. I want to thank everyone – staff, students and external professionals – for making my time at Guildhall such an incredible and enjoyable experience. The continuous support from the staff has been invaluable; I cannot thank them enough. Guildhall gave me the opportunity to explore my dreams and I am now ready to start the next chapter and go into the industry knowing I have had fantastic training from such a great conservatoire.”

In June of this year, Tom was also awarded the Hazel Sharples Memorial Prize, an annual award for an outstanding Guildhall School third-year Production Arts student, voted for by his fellow students. He now heads straight into the profession, as an Assistant Stage Manager on the UK tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical.

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