The American Medallic Sculpture Association (AMSA) has selected the 2026 American Medal of the Year (AMY) award. This year’s annual competition continues a tradition that was initiated by Mel Wacks in 2014.  The submissions ranged from the traditional cast or struck medals, along with those composed of other various non-traditional materials and production techniques.

The five-judge panel, led by Chief Judge Steven Bieda, chose a submission by Tracy Mahaffey, of Greene, Rhode Island, entitled Clothesline.

The round, double-sided medal, is composed of cast bronze, measures 115 mm and weighs 16 oz. The obverse design consists of hanging laundry, while the reverse depicts clothespins along with a haiku. The haiku reads: Taut line in bedroom, mom’s wooden – clothespins in place, fresh scent memories. According to Mahaffey, this medal is the first medal in a series that she calls “Mundane Medals,” the focus of which is to “celebrate all the beauty found daily in the little details of a busy life.” In describing the medal, Mahaffey states: “I’m one who loves to hang dry my laundry year round. During the winter I string my clothesline up in my bedroom. When I wake in the early morning, I am always taken by how the first rays of light play over the rhythmic folds of the hanging clothes, creating great shadows, shapes, and texture, almost filling the clothes with life. A feeling of peace and comfort comes over me as memories of my mom hanging our laundry out as kids and the smell of fresh sheets comes rushing back. This feeling is captured in a haiku on the reverse side of the medal.” The design found a warm response from this year’s jurors, with one remarking that the medal “just elicited fond memories of childhood and warmth. Sometimes we don’t need deep philosophical meaning and just need to build a pillow fort.”

Tracy Mahaffey has been a professional sculptor and stone carver for over twenty-five years. She specializes in hand-carved memorials and gravestones, as well as inscriptional architectural carvings. Having come to the field of memorial arts through her studies in sculpture and relief, Tracy also finds joy in the beauty, expression, and playfulness of letters. She reports that her love for creating letters comes to life in her memorials, sculptures, and medallic work. Though stone is her first love, Tracy has been exploring other materials such as clay and cast metals to create smaller, more intimate, commemorative work. This is highlighted by her study and practice of medallic art, an art form that she believes has been even more under-appreciated than memorial arts. Her work can be viewed at www.tracymahaffey.com.