Shetland Museum and Archives Short-listed for Family Friendly Award

The Guardian announced today that the Shetland Museum and Archives is among five museums to be short-listed for this year’s prestigious Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.

This award attracts more nominations than any other, making it Britain’s biggest museum award, and it is the only award where families make the nominations and choose the winner.

Dea Birkett, director of Kids in Museums who work in partnership with the Guardian on the award, commented: “This was a tough year for the judging panel, with so much innovative and pioneering work with families in Britain’s museums and galleries. To get to the shortlist, a museum had to demonstrate pioneering, original work – which is what Shetland did. I’m thrilled that such a new venture has shone so early. It’s a testament to the vision of the team who work in the museum that they managed to beat established, national institutions with extensive staff and big budgets. It just goes to show that small can be very beautiful. Being family friendly can be about the culture of an institution, rather than about resources and cost.”

Tommy Watt, Museum Curator, was thrilled that the Museum and Archives had made it to the short-list: “This is fantastic news for us. This award nomination means a lot as it is families who nominate and select the winner. I believe we were nominated by several families and would like to thank them for their support. We are constantly developing and improving the family friendly events and facilities we have to offer and this nomination is for all of our staff.”

For the next stage, families will visit the short-listed museums unannounced to road-test them against the Kids in Museums Manifesto. The winner will be announced in the Guardian newspaper on 1st May.