Museum of the Year

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the winner of the 2016 prize

The Museum of the Year Award, formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize and the Art Fund Prize, is an annual prize awarded to a museum or gallery in the United Kingdom for a "track record of imagination, innovation and excellence". A single award of £100,000, Britain's biggest single art prize,^[1] is presented to a museum or gallery, large or small, anywhere in the UK, whose entry, in the opinion of the judges, best demonstrates a track record of imagination, innovation and excellence through work mainly undertaken during the previous calendar year.^[2]

The Museum Prize Trust was established to create an annual prize for museums in Britain in 2001.^[3] The first prize, at that time known as the Gulbenkian Prize, was awarded in 2003.^[2] The principal sponsor from 2003 to 2007 was the Lisbon-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, but since 2008 the prize has been sponsored by The Art Fund.^[4] It was given its current name in late 2012,^[5] and the first award under the new name was given in 2013. Since 2011 the Clore Award for Museum Learning, worth £10,000 and sponsored by the Clore Duffield Foundation, has been awarded for "quality museum and gallery learning with children and young people (from early years up to the age of 25) in any setting, in or out of school or college".^[6] For its first two years this award had a separate shortlist but in 2013 it was awarded to an institution on the Museum of the Year shortlist, which had expanded from four to ten finalists.^[3]

List of winners and shortlisted entries

Gulbenkian Prize (2003–2007)

2003

• National Centre for Citizenship, Galleries of Justice, Nottingham, winner^[7]
• Collections, Communities and Memories Community Project Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham
• Darwin Centre Phase One, Natural History Museum, London
• RRS Discovery, Discovery Point, Dundee^[8]

2004

• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, winner^[9]
• Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Pembrokeshire Museum Service
• Norton Priory Museum, Runcorn^[10]

2005

• Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon, Torfaen, winner^[11]
• Coventry Transport Museum
• Time and Tide Museum, Great Yarmouth
• Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon, County Durham^[12]

2006

• SS Great Britain, Bristol, winner^[13]
• Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London
• The Collection: Art and Archeology, Lincolnshire
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield^[14]

2007

• Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex, winner^[15]
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
• Kew Palace, Historic Royal Palaces, London
• Weston Park Museum, Sheffield^[16]

Art Fund Prize (2008–2012)

2008

• The Lightbox, Woking, winner^[17]
• Breaking the Chains, British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Bristol
• Shetland Museum and Archives, Shetland
• Wellcome Collection, London^[18]

2009

• Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, winner^[19]
• Centre of New Enlightenment at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
• Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, London
• Ruthin Craft Centre: Centre for the Applied Arts, Denbighshire^[20]

2010

• Ulster Museum, Belfast, winner^[21]
• Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
• Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
• Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry^[18]

2011

• A History of the World in 100 Objects, British Museum, London, winner^[22]
• Polar Museum, University of Cambridge
• Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway
• Roman Baths Museum, Bath^[23]

2012

• Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, winner^[24]
• The Hepworth Wakefield
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
• Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey^[25]

Museum of the Year (2013–)

2013

• William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London, winner^[26]
• The Hepworth Wakefield, winner of the Clore Award for Learning^[27]
• Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
• The Beaney, Canterbury
• Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
• Horniman Museum and Gardens, London
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
• Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
• Narberth Museum, Pembrokeshire
• Preston Hall Museum and Park, Stockton-on-Tees^[28]

2014

• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, winner^[29]
• Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft, Ditchling, East Sussex
• Hayward Gallery, London
• Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
• Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich
• Tate Britain, London^[30]

2015

• Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, winner^[31]
• Dunham Massey Hall, Greater Manchester
• Imperial War Museum, London
• The MAC, Belfast
• Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford
• Tower of London^[32]

2016

• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, winner^[33]
• Arnolfini, Bristol
• Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Beckenham, London
• Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
• York Art Gallery^[34]

See also

• European Museum of the Year Award
• Europa Nostra
• The Best in Heritage

References

1. Clarke, Sean (14 January 2005). "Industrial museums vie for £100,000 Gulbenkian prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
2. "Museums get £100,000 prize". BBC News. 16 September 2002. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
3. "The Museum Prize Trust". Retrieved 10 June 2013.
4. "Judges announced for Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries". The Art Fund. 26 October 2007.
5. "Art Fund Prize Becomes Museum of the Year". Artinfo. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
6. "Clore Award for Learning". The Art Fund. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
7. "Winner 2003".
8. "Short List 2003".
9. "Winner 2004".
10. "Short List 2004".
11. "Winner 2005".
12. "Short List 2005".
13. "Winner 2006".
14. "Short List 2006".
15. "Winner 2007".
16. "Short List 2007".
17. "Museum inspired by community campaign scoops £100,000 prize". The Art Fund. 22 May 2008.
18. "Short list for The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries announced". The Art Fund. 18 April 2008.
19. "Wedgwood Museum scoops The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries". The Art Fund. 18 June 2009.
20. "The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries short list for UK's largest arts prize announced". The Art Fund. 6 May 2009.
21. "Ulster Museum wins £100,000 Art Fund Prize". The Art Fund. 30 June 2010.
22. "British Museum scoops £100,000 Art Fund Prize and is crowned 'Museum of the Year'". The Art Fund. 15 June 2011.
23. "Four museums short listed for £100,000 Art Fund Prize". The Art Fund. 19 May 2011.
24. "Royal Albert Memorial Museum crowned 'Museum of the Year'". The Art Fund. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
25. "Four museums make Art Fund Prize shortlist". BBC News. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
26. Goldsmith, Belinda (4 June 2013). "William Morris Gallery crowned British museum of year". Reuters. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
27. "The Hepworth Wakefield wins £10,000 Clore Learning Award". The Hepworth Wakefield. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
28. "Art Fund Museum Of The Year Award 2013 Shortlist Announced". ArtLyst. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
29. Gray, Maggie (10 July 2014). "Yorkshire Sculpture Park named Art Fund's Museum of the Year". Apollo. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
30. "Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014: Shortlist Announced". Apollo. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
31. Pes, Javier (2 July 2015). "Whitworth named UK museum of the year". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
32. Atkinson, Rebecca (24 April 2015). "Six museums shortlisted for Museum of the Year 2015". Museums Association. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
33. Pes, Javier (7 July 2016). "Victoria and Albert Museum wins UK's glittering award". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
34. "V&A up for Museum of the Year £100,000 prize". BBC News. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.

External links

• Official website
• The Gulbenkian Prize