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Kennedy Center Honors reveal new medallion design after dismissing original creator

By Abigail Stuckrath

The 48th Kennedy Center Honors’ medallions have been unveiled. For the first time since 1978, the medals have a significant redesign with a new creator at the helm.

Tiffany & Co. have funded and reimagined the awards, which will now feature a navy-blue strap holding a gold disc with a sketch of the Kennedy Center building surrounded by rainbow colors. The reverse side will have the name of the honorees and the date of the ceremony.

navy blue straps with a gold medal hanging from the middle
Tiffany & Co’s new design of the Kennedy Center Honors’ medallion. (Courtesy Kennedy Center) (Click to expand)

The center wrote in a news release that Tiffany & Co. is its “ideal collaborator” for these medals because of the company’s “defining role in American luxury culture for nearly two centuries.”

The new partnership comes after President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, appointing himself as chair, earlier this year.

The Baturin family, owners of The Baumgarten Company, known as “America’s Rubber Stamp Factory,” had been making the awards for decades.

It was James “Jimmy” Baturin who created the first design of the medallions, including the rainbow ribbon strap and gold name plate the awards were known for.

Baturin told WTOP earlier this year that the new collaboration is disheartening.

“I could cry over it, but that isn’t going to do any good,” he said.

The 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors will award George Strait, rock band KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone on Sunday. The ceremony will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m.

A look at Prince Andrew’s antics and scandals that have tried royal patience for decades

By The Associated Press
Britain’s Prince Andrew was forced to relinquish use of his remaining royal titles after the latest revelations about his relationship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein proved one scandal too many for his brother, King Charles III. Andrew’s antics have tried the patience of the royal family for more than 40 years, triggering embarrassing headlines, lawsuits and suspicions that the prince, now 65, was using his position for personal gain. Here are some of the episodes that tarnished the reputation of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and finally forced his older brother to banish him from public life. 1984 — Andrew sprays reporters and photographers with paint while touring a construction project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. “I enjoyed that,” Andrew said, while wiping his hands on a piece of newspaper.
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