The English Folk Dance and Song Society’s highest award, the Gold Badge, was first presented in 1922.
Gold Badges are presented for unique or outstanding contributions to folk music, dance or song and/or exceptional contributions to the Society’s work. Anyone can make a nomination, which should be seconded by one other person.
Gold Badges for 2023 are awarded to:
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Jo and Simon HarmerWith long and distinguished careers in dance performance, education and research, both Simon and Jo have made immeasurable contributions to the validity and depth of the step dancing traditions they love, with a wide-reaching impact both within and outside the folk world, in Hampshire and nationally. |
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Frank LeeFrank has made an incalculable contribution to rapper sword as a dancer, musician, and sword maker, largely but not exclusively in the north of England. He was involved in establishing DERT (Dance England Rapper Tournament) at which he frequently acted as judge and musician, and he was a founder of Carlisle Sword and Clog. |
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Sean GoddardSean is a well-known caller for social dances in South East England, a morris dancer, and Chair of Keymer Folk Dance Club. He has also undertaken academic studies in England folk dance, completing an MA in 2021, and is the editor of Sussex Pie, the folk newsletter for Sussex. |
The first Gold Badges were awarded in 1922 to Lady Mary Trefusis and Mrs Dudley Hervey. In the following year two seminal figures of early twentieth-century folk movement were celebrated: the collector and educator Cecil Sharp, and Anglo-concertina player and Morris dancer William Kimber.
Nearly 200 awards have now been made, and the illustrious list of Gold Badge holders includes composer/collector Ralph Vaughan Williams (1943), performer/writer AL Lloyd (1975), Ewan MacCoIl (1987), Peggy Seeger (1987), Shirley Collins (2003), Eliza Carthy (2007) and Kate Rusby (2019).
