Museum of the Year facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Art Fund Museum of the Year
Logo of the 2019 prize
Location	United Kingdom
First awarded	1973 (1973)

The Art Fund Museum of the Year Award is a special prize given every year to a museum or art gallery in the United Kingdom. It used to be called the Gulbenkian Prize and the Art Fund Prize. This award celebrates museums that show great imagination, new ideas, and excellent work.

The prize is a large sum of £100,000. It is the biggest art prize in Britain. It is also the largest museum art prize in the world! Any museum or gallery in the UK can win, whether it's big or small. The judges look for museums that have done amazing things, mostly in the year before the award.

History of the Award

The Museum of the Year award started a long time ago. A British charity called National Heritage first gave out the award from 1973 to 2000.

New Beginnings: The Gulbenkian Prize

In 2001, a new group called the Museum Prize Trust was created. Their goal was to make one big award. This new award would replace the old one and three others. The first award under this new plan was given in 2003. It was called the Gulbenkian Prize. The main supporter of this prize until 2007 was the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from Lisbon.

The Art Fund Takes Over

Since 2008, the Art Fund has been the main sponsor. The award changed its name to the Art Fund Prize. In late 2012, it got its current name: the Art Fund Museum of the Year. The first award with this new name was given in 2013.

Learning for Young People

Since 2011, there has also been another award. It is called the Clore Award for Museum Learning. This award is worth £10,000. It celebrates museums that do a great job teaching children and young people (up to age 25). For a couple of years, this award had its own list of finalists. But since 2013, the Clore Award has been given to one of the museums already on the Museum of the Year shortlist. This shortlist grew from four to ten finalists.

Past Winners and Finalists

Here are the amazing museums and galleries that have won this award over the years. You can also see some of the other great places that were finalists!

National Heritage Museum of the Year (1973–2000)

Year	Winner
1973		Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry, Kendal, Cumbria
1974		National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire
1975		Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, West Sussex
1976		Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
1977		Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Telford, Shropshire
1978		Erddig Hall, Wrexham
		Museum of London
1979		Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery, Saint Peter Port
1980		Natural History Museum, London
1981		Hunday Farm Museum, Stocksfield, Northumberland
1982		Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
1983		Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, County Down
1984		Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire
1985		Burrell Collection, Glasgow
1986		Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, County Durham
1987		Manchester Museum
1988		National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, West Yorkshire
1989		National Portrait Gallery at Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire
1990		Imperial War Museum, London
		Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester
1991		National Railway Museum, York
1992		Manx National Museum, Douglas
1993		Jersey Museum and Art Gallery, St Helier
		Jersey Maritime Museum, St Helier
1994		Tower Museum, Derry, County Londonderry
1995		Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, North Yorkshire
1996		Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury
		National Trust exhibition at Uppark, South Harting, West Sussex
1997		Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
1998		House of Manannan: Manx National Heritage, Peel
		Jersey Maritime Museum, St Helier
1999		River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
2000		British Museum, London

Gulbenkian Prize Winners (2003–2007)

Year	Winner		Shortlisted
2003		National Centre for Citizenship, Galleries of Justice, Nottingham	Collections, Communities and Memories Community Project, Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham, South Yorkshire Darwin Centre Phase One, Natural History Museum, London RRS Discovery, Discovery Point, Dundee
2004		Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh	Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne Pembrokeshire Museum Service Norton Priory Museum, Runcorn, Cheshire
2005		Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon, Torfaen	Coventry Transport Museum Time and Tide Museum, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon, County Durham
2006		SS Great Britain, Bristol	Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London The Collection: Art and Archeology, Lincolnshire Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
2007		Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex	Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Kew Palace, London Weston Park Museum, Sheffield

Art Fund Prize Winners (2008–2012)

Year	Winner		Shortlisted
2008		The Lightbox, Woking, Surrey	Breaking the Chains, British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Bristol Shetland Museum and Archives, Shetland Wellcome Collection, London
2009		Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire	Centre of New Enlightenment, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, London Ruthin Craft Centre: Centre for the Applied Arts, Denbighshire
2010		Ulster Museum, Belfast	Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Blists Hill Victorian Town, Telford, Shropshire Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry
2011		A History of the World in 100 Objects, British Museum, London	Polar Museum, University of Cambridge Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, Ayrshire Roman Baths Museum, Bath, Somerset
2012		Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, Devon	The Hepworth Wakefield Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey

Art Fund Museum of the Year (2013–Present)

Year	Winner		Shortlisted
2013		William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London	The Hepworth Wakefield, winner of the Clore Award for Learning Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear The Beaney, Canterbury, Kent 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, County Durham
2014		Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield	Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Ditchling, East Sussex Hayward Gallery, London Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth, Hampshire Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, Norfolk Tate Britain, London
2015		Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester	Dunham Massey Hall, Greater Manchester Imperial War Museum, London The MAC, Belfast Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford Tower of London
2016		Victoria and Albert Museum, London	Arnolfini, Bristol Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Beckenham, London Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh York Art Gallery
2017		The Hepworth Wakefield	Lapworth Museum of Geology, Birmingham National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art, Newmarket, Suffolk Sir John Soane's Museum, London Tate Modern, London
2018		Tate St Ives	Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull Glasgow Women's Library The Postal Museum, London
2019		St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff	HMS Caroline, Belfast Nottingham Contemporary Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford V&A Dundee
2020		Aberdeen Art Gallery	N/A
		Gairloch Museum, Wester Ross
		Science Museum, London
		South London Gallery, Camberwell, London
		Towner Eastbourne
2021		Firstsite, Colchester	Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry Experience Barnsley Thackray Museum of Medicine, Leeds Timespan, Helmsdale
2022		Horniman Museum, London	Museum of Making, Derby People's History Museum, Manchester The Story Museum, Oxford Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham
2023		Burrell Collection, Glasgow	Leighton House, London The MAC, Belfast Natural History Museum, London Scapa Flow Museum, Stromness
2024		Young V&A, London	Craven Museum & Gallery, Skipton, North Yorkshire Dundee Contemporary Arts Manchester Museum National Portrait Gallery, London
2025		Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, County Durham	Chapter, Cardiff Compton Verney, Warwickshire Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast Perth Museum

See also

• List of awards for contributions to culture
• European Museum of the Year Award
• Europa Nostra
• The Best in Heritage