PRESS RELEASE March 26th, 2012
Shortlist announced for coveted 10th Anniversary Museum and Heritage sector awards
Museums, galleries and visitor attractions from across the UK and Europe have been shortlisted to receive a prestigious industry accolade at the national Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence ceremony in May.
Innovative and groundbreaking exhibitions have been selected from hundreds of entries across 11 hard-fought categories. Popular comedienne and broadcaster Sue Perkins will be announcing the winners at the glittering Awards ceremony on 16 May at 8 Northumberland in central London.
Now celebrating its tenth year, the Awards recognise projects of excellence ranging from groundbreaking achievements of national institutions to those crafted with limited resources and budget or those championing sustainability.
The Awards are judged by a panel of the sector’s leading lights including: Diane Lees, Director General, Imperial War Museums; Bernard Donoghue, Director, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) and other leading sector professionals.
Mr Donoghue said: "The Museums + Heritage Awards are so highly valued within the sector because they recognise ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit, success and integrity. They recognise excellence wherever it is found, from the smallest local museum to the largest, globally iconic attraction. And success breeds success; our award-winners are further inspired by their award to achieve more and push boundaries and this is rewarded by increased visitor numbers, spend, media coverage and deeper, broader, more beneficial partnerships."
(Complete shortlist overleaf) The 2012 Museum + Heritage Awards for Excellence Shortlist CLASSIC AWARD Harrogate Borough Council - The Mercer Art Gallery National Museums Liverpool- World Museum The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust - Ironbridge Gorge Museum Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens Coventry Transport Museum Museum of British Road Transport Trust (Coventry) Ltd EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE The National Archives, Surrey - The National Archives Virtual Classroom Epping Forest Open Spaces, City of London Corporation - Discovering Epping Forest (DEF) Science Museum, London - Science Museum Live on Tour Historic Royal Palaces, London - All the King's Fools, Hampton Court Palace Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives- Time Travel Northumberland INNOVATION AWARD PinPoint Visualisation Ltd, Ascot, Berkshire - Exhibita Pro The Public Catalogue Foundation, London - Your Paintings Grant Museum of Zoology, London - QRator: Visitor Participation Through Social Interpretation Victoria & Albert Museum, London - Five Truths Glasgow Life - Riverside Museum INTERNATIONAL AWARD Heritage Without Borders, London - Heritage Without Borders, Bosnia and Herzegovina Chameleon 3 Ltd, London - Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France Mallinson Architects & Engineers, London - Children's Centre for Civilisation & Creativity, Cairo Event Communications, London - Port 24/7, HET ScheepVaart Museum, Netherlands Bolton Museum, United Exhibits Group - Quest for Immortality: Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt, Taiwan MARKETING CAMPAIGN National Museums Liverpool - Museum of Liverpool British Museum, London - Grayson Perry The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham - Court on Canvas Historic Scotland - Stirling Castle Palace Project Marketing Campaign The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge - Vermeer's Women: Secrets & Silence PERMANENT EXHIBITION – Sponsored by Service Graphics National Museums Scotland - The Transformation of the National Museum of Scotland The Holburne Museum, Bath - Re-Opening and Re-Display of the Holburne The Manchester Museum - Living Worlds Glasgow Life - Riverside Museum Exeter City Council - Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives - M Shed PROJECT ON A LIMITED BUDGET The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke - Once Upon a Time Grant Museum of Zoology, London - Kingdom in a Cabinet: The relocation of the Grant Museum Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery - Draw Me a Story: The Art of Illustration for Children Warrington Museum - Bringing the Wow Factor to Warrington Museum
RESTORATION OR CONSERVATION Friends of Windmill Gardens, London - Brixton Windmill ZMMA Watts Gallery, Surrey Salford Community Leisure - The Extraordinary Ordsall Hall Harwell Restoration, Oxford - Fire Damage Restoration of 12,000 objects for Dean Heritage Centre, Forest of Dean Historic Royal Palaces, London - White Tower Conservation and Repair
TEMPORARY OR TOURING EXHIBITION Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust - Children and War Great North Museum, Newcastle - Hancock - Pharaoh: King of Egypt The National Army Museum, London - War Horse: Fact & Fiction Museum of London - Dickens and London Natural History Museum, London - Sexual Nature Derby Museums & Art Gallery - Down the Back of the Sofa WINSTAN BOND TROPHY FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL MUSEUM OF THE YEAR National Museums Liverpool - Museum of Liverpool Turner ContemporaryArtworks, Margate, Kent Dundee Heritage Trust - From Carriers to Coffins - Jute in the 21st Century SUSTAINABILITY – sponsored by PLB National Museums Liverpool - Museum of Liverpool Durham Heritage Coast Partnership - Gateway Welcome Initiative The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge - Gallery I Garden Museum, Lambeth, London - Championing Sustainability in Heritage Traineeship programme The Dudson Museum, Stoke-on-Trent - Application and Award of Staffordshire Environmental Quality Mark (SEQM)
The 2012 Museums + Heritage Show, sister event of the Awards, takes place at Earls Court on May 16 and 17. For more information about the 2012 Awards, please visit www.museumsandheritage.com or call 01905 724 734.
ENDS Note to Editors: Press enquiries: For further details about the Awards or any of the shortlisted entries, please call 07891246064 or email [email protected]