Glasgow School of Art: Medal founded by Dracula author Bram Stoker to be revived after 40 years

At the time, Stoker was struggling to finish a vampire novel and was offered a quiet place to complete his manuscript by the-then director, Francis Newbery.

Now, a medal provided by the writer to thank the GSA for its help in creating iconic novel Dracula is to be revived, with a physical copy of the original award from 1900 recreated for the first time in 40 years.

When Stoker visited the GSA in 1896, his then-unfinished novel was titled The Un-Dead. Mr Newbery offered the use of his cottage at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire, for the author to work.

To thank him, Stoker founded the medal in 1900, awarding it to GSA students whose work displayed exceptional imagination.

The award is presented every year at the school, but this is the first time in 40 years that a set of physical medals have been commissioned and created. The 2025 edition marks the first time since the 1980s the medal has been physically produced.

Dracula, which tells the story of solicitor Jonathan Harker, who takes a business trip to stay at the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman Count Dracula, was published a year later. It has since become one of the best-known gothic novels of all time.

The ruined Slains Castle, located on a cliff overlooking the sea near Cruden Bay, is widely believed to have been the inspiration for Castle Dracula.

Commissioned by Professor Penny Macbeth, the new collection of ten medals was designed and hand-engraved by GSA graduate, silversmith and jewellery designer and member of the school’s silversmithing and jewellery staff team, Caius Bearder, who carefully recreated the medal based on the 1900 original design.

“Reviving the Bram Stoker Medal after four decades reconnects us to a remarkable part of our history and is a celebration of both our heritage and our future,” said Prof Macbeth.

“The medal’s story reflects the spirit of creative courage that defines the GSA – a belief in imagination as a force for change. I am delighted that our graduates can once again receive this award as a tangible symbol of that legacy.”

The text on the reverse was hand-engraved by Harry Stokes, a Farringdon-based silversmith who specialises in script, heraldry and illustration. Each of the new hand-engraved pieces honours both the School’s heritage and its enduring commitment to nurturing imagination and innovation.

Of the new set of ten medals, four are being awarded retrospectively to the recipients from the tenure of Professor Macbeth; Duncan Fleming Brown, Militsa Miolenkova, Xintong Guo and Amy Strzoda. One will be donated to GSA Archives and Collections, while the remaining editions will ensure a physical medal is awarded annually until 2030.

The last physical medals were produced in the 1980s under the tenure of the school’s director, Prof Tony Jones, when recipients included acclaimed painter Steven Campbell and architect Gerry Grams.