The 2025 award season will soon open for entries, including the new Visitor Accessibility Award
The Museums + Heritage Awards returns in 2025 for its 23rd year celebrating the sector’s achievements.
Ahead of entries opening, this year it has announced a new category for 2025 – the Visitor Accessibility Award which will recognise cultural institutions that have made significant strides in improving access for all visitors.
After the Awards open on 1 November, museums, galleries, and heritage sites across the country will be given an opportunity to showcase the work they have undertaken to implement a comprehensive approach to visitor accessibility, removing barriers and increasing engagement for Disabled people.
Anna Preedy, director of the Museums + Heritage Awards, explained: “We’ve seen great progress in recent years regarding accessibility in cultural spaces but appreciate there is still a long way to go. After much consultation with sector specialists in this area, this new award category has been designed to shine a spotlight on the steps taken to integrate visitor accessibility. I anticipate that this category will evolve over the years as more positive progress is made as sector organisations strive to embed accessibility in all areas.”
The award category will be open to all areas of the visitor journey both in person and online.
The award judges will be looking at how the steps being taken currently will contribute to a long-term, strategic, commitment to accessibility across all aspects of the visitor experience — from online engagement to front-of-house services, facilities, tailored programming, accessible resources and training, etc.
The Museums + Heritage Awards ceremony will take place in London next May, with shortlisted entries to be announced in the months leading up to the event.
Museums and heritage sites interested in submitting entries for this or other award categories are encouraged to visit the official Museums + Heritage Awards website for further information, and to subscribe to the newsletter for the latest updates.
