Article: David Styles | Image: © Sally Adams
15 UK museums have been included in the 2019 Family Friendly Museum Award shortlist, with judging panels now set to visit all nominees to decide which institution will follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner Leeds City Museum.
Kids in Museums has been running the awards since 2004, each year selecting one UK museum which delivers an unparalleled experience for a family audience.
This year’s judging process will take place throughout the school summer holidays, with undercover families visiting each shortlisted museum to rank them on how well they meet the Kids in Museums Manifesto.
The aggregated results will then decide a winner for each award category – small, medium and large museums – and an overall winner, which will receive the title of Family Friendly Museum of the Year 2019.
2019 nominees
Large Museums Category
Museum of Liverpool
Riverside Museum, Glasgow
World Museum, Liverpool
Medium Museums Category
Bolton Museum & Art Gallery
Great North Museum: Hancock
London Transport Museum
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge
University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge
Small Museums Category
Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Dunfermline
The Devil’s Porridge Museum, Eastriggs
Erewash Museum, Derbyshire
Hastings Museum & Art Gallery
Parc Howard Museum, Llanelli
Valence House Museum, Dagenham
Damian Dibben, children’s author and Kids in Museums Ambassador, said that since the award began 15 years ago there has been a “real sea-change in how museums cater for their family audiences.”
Each year, he added, “the shortlisting gets more and more difficult and this year has been our most competitive yet. These museums have been shortlisted because they go above and beyond to put families first and make them feel welcome throughout their visit. We congratulate all our shortlisted museums. It’s now over to families to help us decide the winner.”
Winners of the awards, which are made possible with Arts Council funding, will discover their fate at a ceremony in London later this year.
