Two Oxford University museums have won prestigious awards at the 20th Museums + Heritage Awards which were announced at a ceremony in London’s west end last night. The annual Museums + Heritage Awards are the preeminent annual awards in the heritage sector, celebrating innovative and ground-breaking initiatives from museums and heritage visitor attractions across the UK and overseas.
The Museum of Natural History have won Partnership of the Year for Meat the Future: A partnership to feed minds and bodies in collaboration with the university’s LEAP Project (Livestock, Environment and People) which studies the health, environmental, social and economic impacts of meat and dairy production and consumption. They were up against a highly competitive field including partnerships at London’s Natural History Museum, the Science Museum Group and the Jewish Museum London. The judges described the Museum’s partnership as ‘a brilliant example of a completely mutual and cross-dependent partnership. Meat the Future successfully combined research, engagement and commerce in an immersive and involving experience.’ The Meat the Future exhibition has been extended until 5 June 2022.
The History of Science Museum’s Front of House Team have won the inaugural Visitor Welcome Award, again up against great cultural sites including Beamish, The Living Museum of the North and London Transport Museum. The judges said ‘they were impressed by this Front of House team and the storytelling which they used to create participative and collaborative experiences for its visitors.’
GLAM has been well represented at the awards in previous years, having been shortlisted for best Marketing campaign at the 2018 awards and for Project on a Limited Budget for its Out in Oxford project at the 2017 awards, for Partnership of the Year for its Iffley Academy Partnership in 2020, and winning Volunteer Team of the Year at the 2019 awards with its Multaka-Oxford project. The Ashmolean Museum was shortlisted for Permanent Exhibition category at the 2018 awards where GLAM was also shortlisted in Marketing Campaign category. At the 2016 awards the Bodleian Libraries won the Marketing Campaign category and the Museum of Natural History won for Project on a Low Budget and ‘Best of the Best’.
The judging panel was chaired by ALVA CEO Bernard Donoghue, and consisted of Diane Lees CBE, Sara Wajid, Maggie Appleton MBE, Dr Matthew Tanner MBE, Sam Mullins, Caro Howell and Stephen Duncan.
View the 2022 winners