The Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence were dished out on Wednesday with the Brooklands Museum, the Museum of London, the Wolfson Foundation and more recognised for their work.
The Brooklands Museum won the Permanent Exhibition award for its Aircraft Factory and Flight Shed. The new exhibition tells an immersive story of designing and building aeroplanes from the early pioneers to the supersonic Concorde.
The judging panel said: “This new exhibition has it all – it’s immersive, creative, people-focused. It’s astonishing in its risk-taking, has great volunteers at its heart and challenging in the way it has so brilliantly brought its collection alive.”
The institution has also been shortlisted for the Art Fund’s Museum of the year.
Another big winner was the Museum of London, which took home the Innovation Award for its Archaeological Archive.
The project, dubbed #ArchiveLottery, saw curators interacting with the museum’s followers on social media. The followers could tweet a shelf number and the museum team would take a picture of the object stored in that location and tweet it back to the follower.
Visitors could also take part in the game through live Skype links in the museum. The judges said the project “successfully turned object engagement on its head”.
Museums + Heritage Awards 2018 full list of winners
Special Recognition Award
Winner
- The Wolfson Foundation
Project on a Limited Budget
Winner
- Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL, The Whale Weekender
Highly Commended
- Heritage Learning with Ferens Art Gallery, Explore Art (Under 5s and Families Gallery)
Shortlisted
- Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery, Illustrating Harry Potter
- Maidstone Museums, Research & Display of Mummified Remains for ‘Ancient Lives’
- The Natural History Museum at Tring, Dodos: Old Bird, New Tricks
Temporary or Touring Exhibition
Winner
- The Salisbury Museum, Terry Pratchett: His World
Highly Commended
- Science Museum, London, Robots: The 500-Year Quest to Make Machines Human
Shortlisted
- People’s History Museum, Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights
- National Trust, Prejudice & Pride
- Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Eric Gill: The Body
- Victoria and Albert Museum, You Say You Want a Revolution?
- National Museums Liverpool / Arts Council Collection, Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender & Identity
The International Award
Winner
- Holland Open Air Museum and Kossmann.dejong, The Canon of Dutch History
Highly Commended
- The Museum of Islamic Art in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin State Museums,The Syria Initiative – Museum as Mediator of Shared Heritage
Shortlisted
- Museum of South East Demark, Vikingeborgen/The Viking Fortress
- Canadian Museum of History, Canadian History Hall
- Vardemuseum in co-operation with Tinker imagineers, TIRPITZ – hidden stories on Danish west coast
- Denis Byrne Architects + Thirty Three Trees, Derrigimlagh: The Marconi Station / Alcock & Brown Landing Site
Volunteers of the Year Award – Team
Winner
- Scottish Football Museum, Football Memories Volunteer Network
Highly Commended
- Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association Survivor speakers
Shortlisted
- Old Royal Naval College, Painted Hall Conservation Volunteers
- National Trust – Buckland Abbey, Buckland Abbey Art Ambassador Volunteers
- Century of Stories – Leicestershire County Council, Bosworth Tommies
- Ripon Museum Trust, The Refurbishment Team
Volunteer of the Year Award – Individual
Winner
- The Mid Hants Railway, Miss Jessica Arnold and Museum of London, Claire Madge
Shortlisted
- National Football Museum, Allan Maull
- Canal & River Trust, National Waterways Museum, Barry Green
- Cornwall’s Regimental Museum, Jenny Simmons
Innovation
Winner
- Museum of London Archaeological Archive, #ArchiveLottery
Highly Commended
- Science Museum Group, Space Descent VR with Tim Peake
Shortlisted
- Tate, Preloaded and HTC VIVE, Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier
- Canal & River trust, National Waterways Museum and Jam Creative Studios, Boats of Every Description: An Interactive Journey
- National Gallery with Van Gogh Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Seiji Togo Memorial and Facebook, #SunflowersLive
Best Shop under £500,000
Winner
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter, The Shop at RAMM
Highly Commended
- Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontë Parsonage Museum Shop
Shortlisted
- National Museums Liverpool, World Museum Shop Redeveloped
- Bury Art Museum, Bury Art Shop
- Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, The University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre Shop
Best Shop over £500,000
Winner
- Tower Bridge, Tower Bridge ‘Gift Shop Redesign’
Shortlisted
- The Hepworth Wakefield Shop, The Hepworth Wakefield
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), YSP Shop
- British Library, British Library Retail
Permanent Exhibition
Winner
- Brooklands Museum, The Brooklands Aircraft Factory & Flight Shed
Highly Commended
- Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford Museums & Galleries, The David Hockney Gallery
- The Natural History Museum, Hintze Hall
Shortlisted
- National Army Museum, National Army Museum Permanent Galleries
- National Science and Media Museum, part of the Science Museum Group, Wonderlab
- Haley Sharpe Design on behalf of The Postal Museum, The Postal Museum and Mail Rail
- Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, The Ashmolean Story
- The Natural History Museum, Hintze Hall
Educational Initiative
Winner
- UCL Museums and Collections, Museums on Prescription
Highly Commended
- Leeds Museums and Galleries, Exceed Expectations … with objects and artworks
Shortlisted
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Sharing Shakespeare’s Story
- The Royal Parks, Speak Up! The Hyde Park Debating Challenge
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Summer Club
- Chiltern Open Air Museum, Literacy Theme Days for Primary Schools
Marketing Campaign
Winner
- The Postal Museum, Launching The Postal Museum and Mail Rail
Highly Commended
- Victoria Art Gallery, Here Be Dragons marketing campaign
Shortlisted
- Birmingham Museums Trust, Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender & Identity- Oxford University Gardens, Libraries & Museums, Mindgrowing Campaign
- Bristol Aero Collection Trust, Aerospace Bristol
Fundraising Initiative of the Year
Winner
- Haslemere Educational Museum, Museum in a Million
Highly Commended
- Gairloch + District Heritage Co Ltd, Our Land, Our People, Our Story
Shortlisted
- Friends of RVCP + The Royal Victoria Chapel, Raise the Roof
- National Museums Scotland, Save the Galloway Hoard
- Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, #YayNotNeigh
Restoration or Conservation
Winner
- The Royal Parks, Brompton Cemetery Conservation Project
Highly Commended
- Norfolk Museums Service – Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Nelson & Norfolk: The conservation of the Ensign of Le Généreux
Shortlisted:
- National Museums Liverpool, Murillo’s Virgin and Child in Glory Conserved
- Royal Museums Greenwich, Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I
- London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, London Mithraeum
Image: c. Museums + Heritage.