Handel Medallion

{{Infobox award | name = Handel Medallion | current_awards = | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | awarded_for = | presenter = The City of New York, United States | date =  | location = New York City | country = United States | reward = Medallion | year = 1959 | year2 = | holder = | website = }}

The '''Handel Medallion''' is an American award presented by the City of New York. It is the city's highest award given to individuals for their contribution to the city's intellectual and cultural life.

==Establishment== The award was first issued in 1959 to Virginia Portia Royall Inness-Brown, upon the 200th anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), the German-British Baroque composer, noted for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. The award was established under New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=JUSTINO DIAZ GETS CITY CULTURE PRIZE |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/03/22/79983967.html?pageNumber=33 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Award winners== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Recipient ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |1959 || Virginia Portia Royall Inness-Brown (1901–1990) || |- |1964 || Sidney Poitier (1927–2022) || <ref>{{Cite news |date=April 21, 1964 |title=City Awards Poitier Cultural Prize |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/21/archives/city-awards-poitier-cultural-prize.html |access-date=September 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |- |1965 || Joseph B. Martinson (1914–1970) ||<ref>Wagner files (January 12, 1965). [http://www.steinway.lagcc.cuny.edu/files_doc/WAGNER_FILES/06.016.0000.060023W.35.pdf "Text of Speech by Mayor Robert F. Wagner at Reception Meeting of the New York Shakespeare Festival"]. Robert F. Wagner Documents Collection Retrieved October 27, 2104.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SHUBERT OUTLETS DUE FOR A RULING; License Chief to Set Hearing on Box Offices at Macy's |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/01/12/118692191.html?pageNumber=32 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1966 || David Sarnoff, Justino Diaz, and Lionel Hampton ||<ref>{{Cite web |title=ARTISTS' AWARD GIVEN TO SARNOFF; R.C.A. Chairman Also Gets City's Handel Medallion |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/04/28/79290248.html?pageNumber=50 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jazz: Hampton and Friends at Stadium |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/07/18/83227066.html?pageNumber=21 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1967 || Richard Rodgers (1902–1979), William Schuman || |- |1968 || Janet D. Schenck || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Janet D. Schenck Awarded Medal for Service to Music |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/05/22/77102017.html?pageNumber=52 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1969 || Claire Raphael Reis || |- |1970 || Martha Graham, George Balanchine, Aaron Copland, Alice Tully || |- |1971 || Joseph Papp || |- |1972 || Harold Arlen, Charlie Chaplin, Elia Kazan, Dizzy Gillespie || <ref>Gillespie, Dizzy with Al Fraser. ''To Be Or Not To Bop.'' New York: Da Capo Press. 1979.</ref> |- |1973 || Duke Ellington, Melissa Hayden, Lincoln Kirstein, Beverly Sills || |- |1974 || Oratorio Society of New York || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Briefs On The Arts; History of Film' At the Modern |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/05/01/101021573.html?pageNumber=57 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1975 || Joshua Logan || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Enchanted Evening for Joshua Logan |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/03/10/76539636.html?pageNumber=42 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1976 || George Abbott, Margot Fonteyn, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins || |- |1977 || Marian Anderson, Leonard Bernstein ||<ref>{{Citation | last = Quindlen | first = Anna | author-link = Anna Quindlen | title = Marian Anderson Honored at 75 by Carnegie Hall Concert | newspaper = The New York Times | pages = 24 | date = February 28, 1977 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = Filled with Emotion | newspaper = The New York Times | date = November 22, 1977 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1977/11/22/75316577.html | access-date = April 15, 2012 }}</ref> |- |1978 || Elliott Carter || |- |1980 || Marilyn Horne || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Joan Schneider Bride of Dr. Gerald Seaman; Marilyn Horne to Receive Handel Medal on the Air |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/05/17/111242406.html?pageNumber=51 |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=timesmachine.nytimes.com |language=en}}</ref> |- |1981 || Lena Horne || |- |1982 || John Lennon || |- |1985 || Leontyne Price || |- |1986 || Alexandra Danilova, Antony Tudor || |- |1988 || Alvin Ailey ||<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.alvinailey.org/about/history | title=Explore Our History}}</ref> |- |1989 || Charles Wadsworth || |- |1993 || Robert Merrill, Arthur Mitchell || |- |1997 || Skitch Henderson (1918–2005) ||<ref>{{Cite web |title=Press Release Archives #722-97 Mayor Presents Handel Medallion to Skitch Hederson |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/97/sp722-97.html |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=www.nyc.gov}}</ref> |- |1999 || Merce Cunningham || |- |2002 || Licia Albanese, Roberta Peters || |- |2008 || Neil Simon || <ref>{{cite news| url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9902E5DA103DF933A25752C1A96E9C8B63.html | work=The New York Times | first=Steven | last=McElroy| title=ARTS, BRIEFLY; The Mayors Awards | date=November 10, 2008}}</ref> |- |2009 || Jessye Norman ||<ref>Press release (December 8, 1997). [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/downloads/pdf/441-09_2009_mayors_awards_for_arts_culture.pdf "MAYOR BLOOMBERG PRESENTS 2009 MAYOR’S AWARDS FOR ARTS & CULTURE AT FRANK SINATRA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS"]. Mayor of New York City's Press Office. Retrieved July 18, 2019.</ref> |- |2010 || Judith Jamison || <ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Judith-Jamison-to-Receive-Handel-Medallion-from-Mayor-Bloomberg-118-20101101 | work=Broadway World | title=Judith Jamison to Receive Handel Medallion from Mayor Bloomberg 11/8 | date=November 1, 2010}}</ref> |- |2011 || Stephen Sondheim || <ref>{{cite news| url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/sondheim-to-receive-new-york-city-arts-honor/?scp=2&sq=sondheim&st=cse | work=The New York Times | first=Patricia | last=Cohen | title=Sondheim to Receive New York City Arts Honor | date=October 10, 2011}}</ref> |- |2013 || Harvey Lichtenstein || <ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/arts/music/harvey-lichtenstein-dead-led-bam.html | work=The New York Times | first=Robert | last=Berkvist | title=Harvey Lichtenstein, Who Led Brooklyn Academy of Music's Rebirth, Dies at 87 | date=February 11, 2017}}</ref> |}

Years unknown: {{colbegin|colwidth=30em}} *Ivan Davis *Justino Díaz *Geraldine Fitzgerald *Benny Goodman *Gary Graffman *Kitty Carlisle Hart *Robert Joffrey *Vincent La Selva *Jaime Laredo *Yehudi Menuhin *Renata Tebaldi *Peter Wilhousky {{colend}}

==See also== {{Portal|Society|New York City}} * List of awards for contributions to culture

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:American awards Category:Arts awards in the United States Category:Awards for contributions to culture Category:Awards established in 1959 Category:Culture of New York City Category:1959 establishments in New York City Category:Municipal awards Category:Government of New York City