SELECT Category | 2026
Judges’ Special Recognition Award
The Winner
Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director, Bradford UK City of Culture 2025
2026 Winners
Visitor Accessibility Award
The Winner
Victoria and Albert Museum Design and Disability
Shortlisted
- The Royal Air Force Museum
- Historic Royal Palaces Access Guides and Access Videos
- Castle Howard Access and inclusion at Castle Howard: welcoming everyone
- The Cartoon Museum Accessible Welcome
2026 Winners
Sector Impact Award
Joint Winners
UAL Decolonising Arts Institute 20/20
and
Birmingham Museums Trust Birmingham Museums Trust’s Citizens Jury
Shortlisted
- National Museums Liverpool Recruitment Outreach Programme
- The C Word: The Conservators' Podcast
- Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance and GEM Working Together: Embedding health and wellbeing leadership in museums and heritage organisations
2026 Winners
Visitor Welcome Award
The Winner
National Football Museum Visitor First – A world class welcome for every visitor, every day
Highly Commended
- Japan House London Omotenashi in practice: delivering welcome through attentiveness and care
Shortlisted
- Dorset Museum & Art Gallery Dorset Museum & Art Gallery Visitor Services Team
- Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum & Tour
- Red Lodge (Bristol Museums) Spooky Week: A Walk Through Time
2026 Winners
Sustainable Project of the Year
Joint Winners
Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace - Harmonising Heritage and Sustainability
and
Gloucestershire Archives Green Pledge Project
Shortlisted
- Wardlaw Museum, University of St Andrews Rewrite the Future
- Science and Industry Museum Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery at the Science and Industry Museum
- Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture Wild Uplands at Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture
- Natural History Museum Fixing Our Broken Planet
2026 Winners
Best Use of Digital – International
The Winner
St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation The Caravaggio Wing at St John's Co-Cathedral, Malta
Shortlisted
- Qatar Museums AI Tour
- State Library Victoria Mouthful of Dust
- Industrimuseet Horsens The Director's Dilemma
- Catalan Heritage Agency – Government of Catalonia Els ulls de la història: An immersive digital journey into Catalan heritage
- Ralph Appelbaum Associates Encounters, The National WWI Museum and Memorial
2026 Winners
Best Use of Digital – UK
The Winner
National Science and Media Museum Bradford Digital Creatives
Highly Commended
- Sainsbury Centre Day Release
Shortlisted
- Cadw and Jam Creative Studios Ltd Dynamic, Immersive Storytelling: Wealth, power and dangerous liaisons at Caerphilly Castle.
- UCL Grant Museum of Zoology World of Wasps
- The National Gallery Imaginarium
2026 Winners
Team of the Year
The Winner
Culture Leicestershire, Leicestershire County Council Villiers Revealed: We Have Always Been Here
Shortlisted
- Manchester City Galleries Collections Care and Management Team
- Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester Marketing Team
- Wellcome Collection Visitor Experience & Engagement - Delivering Inclusive and Accessible Experiences
- Jane Austen’s House Jane Austen’s House Staff
2026 Winners
Community Engagement Programme of the Year
The Winner
Horniman Museum and Gardens All Eyes on Her!: Community Stewardship for Institutional Change
Highly Commended
- Gunnersbury Park Museum Peoples Unite! How Southall changed the country
- The Bowes Museum Unheard Voices, bringing The Bowes Museum to HMP Deerbolt
Shortlisted
- The Roman Baths Sanctuary at The Roman Baths
- Touchstones Rochdale Side-by-Side
- Maison Dieu (Dover Town Hall) Reawakening the Maison Dieu Community Engagement
2026 Winners
International Exhibition of the Year
The Winner
Universalmuseum Joanneum, Schloss Eggenberg Ambition & Illusion. Schloss Eggenberg: the Staging of a World
Highly Commended
- Ralph Appelbaum Associates Lost Shtetl Museum
Shortlisted
- ATELIER BRÜCKNER Grand Egyptian Museum – Tutankhamun Gallery
- Tūhura Otago Museum Mums Build a Summer Exhibition to Inspire the Next Generation
- Suzhou Museum × Gold Mantis Culture Development Co Ltd “I Am Ashurbanipal: King of Assyria” — British Museum Collections at Suzhou Museum
2026 Winners
Learning Programme of the Year
The Winner
London Museum Young Londoners' Archive Schools Programme
Highly Commended
- Turner Contemporary An Apple a Day
Shortlisted
- Beamish, The Living Museum of the North Innovative work placement project for SEND and alternative provision school students
- Historic England Heritage Schools
- Powderham Access All Learning: Education on an Event Site
- The National Civil War Centre and Newark Museum The National Civil War Centre's The World Turned Upside Down Learning Programme
2026 Winners
Partnership of the Year
The Winner
North Yorkshire Council Out of the Box Learning
Highly Commended
- Exhibition Road Cultural Group South Ken ZEN+ Programme
Shortlisted
- Derby Museums in partnership with Vaillant UK Inspiring future makers and engineers in Derby
- Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, Bernat Klein Foundation & National Trust for Scotland Bernat Klein Studio Coalition
- English Heritage Taskmaster and English Heritage Team Up
2026 Winners
Restoration or Conservation Project of the Year
The Winner
Norfolk Museums Service Norwich Castle: A Royal Palace Reborn
Highly Commended
- Durham University Conserving the Durham Shakespeare First Folio
Shortlisted
- Cannington Shaw Preservation Trust CIC No7 Bottle Shop
- Dover District Council, The Landmark Trust; Haverstock, Ingham Pinnock Associates & Pitsilli Graham Reawakening the Maison Dieu
- Buttress Architects & Preston City Council Harris Your Place: The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library
2026 Winners
Shop of the Year
The Winner
Chatsworth House The Orangery Shop
Highly Commended
- Museum of the Home Museum Shop
Shortlisted
- University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum Shop
- Derby Museums Museum of Making's sustainable retail season
- National Theatre National Theatre Bookshop
2026 Winners
Volunteers of the Year
Joint Winners
The Hovercraft Museum CIO Rising Above: 45 Volunteers Delivering a Nationally Significant Museum
and
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Nick Ezra, Punjab Registers Comparison Project
Shortlisted
- Wolverhampton Arts and Culture Wolverhampton Art Gallery Volunteer Visitor Ambassadors
- East Grinstead Museum World War II remembered
- Ullapool Museum Trust Ullapool Museum Young Curators
2026 Winners
Permanent Exhibition of the Year
The Winner
Avoncroft Museum of Buildings Revealing the Hidden Stories of the Showmen Community
Shortlisted
- Natural History Museum Fixing Our Broken Planet
- ZMMA Poole Museum
- Shoemakers Museum Place, people and purpose
- Science and Industry Museum Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery
2026 Winners
Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year – budget more than £80k
The Winner
The National Archives MI5: Official Secrets
Shortlisted
- The National Gallery Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers
- Manchester Museum and Air Giants The Cat That Slept for a Thousand Years
- Wellcome Collection 1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader
2026 Winners
Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year – budget less than £80k
The Winner
Food Museum School Dinners
Highly Commended
- Museum of Transology TRANSCESTRY: 10 years of the Museum of Transology
- New Forest Heritage Centre & Romani Community Archaeology The Close
Shortlisted
- Thackray Museum of Medicine Poo!
- Winchester Cathedral Whales
- The Harris (Preston City Council) Wallace and Gromit In A Case at the Museum
2026 Winners
Marketing + Communications Campaign of the Year
The Winner
The Fitzwilliam Museum Made in Ancient Egypt Marketing and Communications campaign
Highly Commended
- Imperial War Museums VE Day 80th Anniversary PR campaign
Shortlisted
- Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre Nara
- Cyfarthfa Foundation and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Cyfarthfa200 – Maximising a Historical Milestone
- Natural History Museum Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?
2026 Winners


