The winners of this year’s prestigious Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence have been announced.
On 12 May, the 12 Oscars of the museum world were handed out at a glittering ceremony at London’s Church House, Westminster.
Amongst this year’s winners was the redevelopment of the Ulster Museum, which fought off strong competition from rivals The Ashmolean and Natural History Museum’s Cocoon to pick up the ‘best actor’ equivalent; The Permanent Exhibition Award.
The Roman Baths, Bath, scooped the Classic Award, while the immensely successful successful Banksy v Bristol Museum exhibition took this year’s best Temporary or Touring Exhibition.
The ceremony was hosted by broadcaster and journalist Simon Calder and attended by more than 250 industry professionals, celebrating the achievements of the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions.
“Despite the challenge of these uncertain times, the creativity and determination of this sector has never been more evident and it was a great privilege to be able to celebrate the impressive achievements of so many," said Anna Preedy, Director of the Museums & Heritage Show and founder of the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence.
"The event really is one to remember – the diversity of the projects submitted was truly remarkable and it is enormously uplifting to see what a difference so many of them have made in encouraging new audiences to our museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions and often working within extremely tight budgetary constraints," she added.
The winners and those shortlisted for the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence are as follows:
CLASSIC AWARD
WINNER: The Roman Baths, Bath and North East Somerset Council: The Roman Baths Development, Winner of the Classic Award
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Shugborough: The Complete Working Historic Estate of Shugborough
Weald & Downland Open Air Museum: Adult Learning Programmes 1999-2010
Fife Council Museums: MAC - Fife's Mobile Museum
Culture24: www.culture24.org.uk
EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE
WINNER: Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry: Centre of the Cell
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew: The Great Plant Hunt
Falmouth Art Gallery: Darwin 200
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
UCL: Object Retrieval
The British Library: Campaign! Make an Impact
INNOVATION AWARD
WINNER: The British Library: Timelines: Sources from History
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Antenna Audio and The National Gallery: Love Art iPhone App
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
IVC Media: Attenborough Studio at the Natural History Museum, London
English Heritage: The Home of Charles Darwin, Down House
British Music Experience
INTERNATIONAL AWARD
WINNER: Directorate of Historic Sites Development; Ministry of Tourism, Sultanate of Oman: Khasab Castle
HIGHLY COMMENDED
D J Willrich Ltd: Ring Werk, Nuerburgring Germany
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Gallo-Roman Museum, Belgium: Learning about the distant past in a permanent exhibition at the Gallo-Roman Museum
MET Studio, Macao: Manchester United Experience
Electrosonic: The Heineken Experience
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
WINNER: The Scotch Whisky Experience
HIGHLY COMMENDED
National Museums Northern Ireland: Ulster Museum Reopening Campaign
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums / Newcastle University: Great North Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Endless Forms - Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts
National Portrait Gallery: Take Another Look
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
WINNER: National Museums Northern Ireland & Haley Sharpe Design: Opening up the Ulster Museum
HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Ashmolean & Metaphor: Transforming the Ashmolean
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Newcastle University, Casson Mann & Beck Interiors Ltd:
Great North Museum
Natural History Museum: Cocoon
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust: Blists Hill Victorian Town Development
MUMA llp: Medieval + Renaissance Galleries, Victoria & Albert Museum
PROJECT ON A LIMITED BUDGET
WINNER: Diss Museum: Tom Paine Festival
JOINTLY HIGHLY COMMENDED
RFA Design & Bexhill Museum: Bexhill Museum
The Salt Museum / Williamson Art Gallery:
Above the Clouds - Mallory & Irvine and the Quest for Everest
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
IDESS CD: Coventry Transport Museum Ghost Town Gallery
National Maritime Museum: Royal Observatory Greenwich, Special Exhibition Gallery
RESTORATION OR CONSERVATION
WINNER: V&A: The conservation and restoration of Master Bertram's Triptych of the Apocalypse
HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Landmark Trust: Queen Anne's Summerhouse
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Martin Ashley Architects: Diana Fountain - Bushy Park
Aston Hall & Park
Donald Insall, Associates Architects: Marianne North Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
TEMPORARY OR TOURING EXHIBITION
WINNER: Banksy & Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery: Banksy Vs Bristol Museum
JOINTLY HIGHLY COMMENDED
London Transport Museum: Suburbia
Urban Salon: Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
Royal Armouries Museums and Historic Royal Palaces: Henry v111: Dressed to Kill
Warrington Museum: ® Evolution of Urban Art
WINSTAN BOND TROPHY FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL MUSEUM OF THE YEAR
JOINT WINNERS:
ss Great Britain Trust: The Brunel Institute and the ss Great Britain Endowment Trust
Museum of East Anglian Life: The Museum as Social Enterprise a new Business model for museums
ALSO SHORT-LISTED
British Motor Industry Heritage Trust: Conferencing at the Heritage Motor Centre
The Mary Rose Trust with Portsmouth Football Club: Get on Board
Ginger Pop Ltd: Eileen Sopers Illustrated Worlds
M&H ONLINE AWARD - THE INDUSTRY'S FAVOURITE
WINNER: Williamson Art Gallery: A Textile Dynasty: Arthur H Lee & Sons
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION BY AN INDIVIDUAL
WINNER: Martyn Heighton
The Awards were judged by a panel of industry professionals, including: Bernard Donoghue, Chairman of British Tourism Week; Diane Lees, Director of Imperial War Museum; Matthew Tanner MBE, Director of ssGreat Britain; Marie Roberts, Editor of the M&H Online and Sam Mullins, Director of London Transport Museum.
