The Roman Baths has been shortlisted for the annual Museums + Heritage Awards sponsored by Altair Media Ltd.
The global awards celebrate the very best in the world of museums, galleries, and cultural and heritage visitor attractions, and the ceremony to reveal the winners will take place on the evening of Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Hilton Park Lane, London.
This year’s shortlist, which includes entrants from all over the United Kingdom as well as museums and other cultural organisations in 10 other countries ranging from Malta to Australia and Spain, has been chosen by an independent panel of nine judges, who are all well-known in the museum world.
The shortlist reflects the diversity of the Museum and Heritage sector, featuring organisations such as the Fitzwilliam Museum and Jane Austen’s House, as well as national museums such as the Natural History Museum among the 19 categories.
The most popular category for applications this year was Community Engagement Programme of the Year, which has been narrowed down to six shortlistees.
These range from The Roman Baths for Sanctuary at The Roman Baths; Gunnersbury Park Museum for People’s Unite! How Southall changed the country; The Bowes Museum for Unheard Voices, bringing The Bowes Museum to HMP Deerbolt; Touchstones Rochdale for Side-by-Side; Horniman Museum and Gardens for All Eyes on Her!: Community Stewardship for Institutional Change and Maison Dieu (Dover Town Hall) for Reawakening the Maison Dieu Community Engagement.
Anna Preedy, Director of Museums + Heritage Awards, commented: “This year we received a record number of entries to the Awards, which has been fantastic to see. I was particularly struck by how competitive the Community Engagement category has become.
Museums and cultural organisations increasingly act as welcoming spaces at the heart of their communities, and it has been inspiring to see how many projects have been developed in genuine collaboration with those communities.
Many exhibitions and initiatives have been co-curated, placing community voices front and centre and creating space for stories to be shared in ways that are imaginative, inclusive and far less prescriptive.”
The 2026 Shortlist
Best Use of Digital
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
Sainsbury Centre Day Release
National Science and Media Museum Bradford Digital Creatives
Best Use of Digital INTERNATIONAL
Qatar Museums Qatar Museums AI Tour (QM 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
St John’s Co Cathedral Foundation The Caravaggio Wing at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Malta
Community Engagement Programme of the Year
The Roman Baths Sanctuary at The Roman Baths
Gunnersbury Park Museum Peoples Unite! How Southall changed the country
The Bowes Museum Unheard Voices, bringing The Bowes Museum to HMP Deerbolt
Touchstones Rochdale Side-by-Side
Horniman Museum and Gardens All Eyes on Her!: Community Stewardship for Institutional Change
Maison Dieu (Dover Town Hall) Reawakening the Maison Dieu
International Exhibition of the Year sponsored by Marcon
Suzhou Museum × Gold Mantis Culture Development Co Ltd “I Am Ashurbanipal: King of Assyria” — British Museum Collections at Suzhou Museum
Tūhura Otago Museum Mums Build a Summer Exhibition to Inspire the Next Generation
Ralph Appelbaum Associates Lost Shtetl Museum
Universalmuseum Joanneum, Schloss Eggenberg Ambition & Illusion. Schloss Eggenberg: the Staging of a World
Atelier Brückner Grand Egyptian Museum – Tutankhamun Gallery
Learning Programme of the Year
The National Civil War Centre and Newark Museum The National Civil War Centre’s The World Turned Upside Down Learning Programme
Turner Contemporary An Apple a Day
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
London Museum Young Londoners’ Archive Schools Programme
Marketing + Communications Campaign of the Year sponsored by Cabbells Ltd
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre Nara
Imperial War Museums VE Day 80th Anniversary PR campaign
Cyfarthfa Foundation and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Cyfarthfa200 – Maximising a Historical Milestone
Natural History Museum Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?
The Fitzwilliam Museum Made in Ancient Egypt
Museums + Heritage Sector Impact Award
National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool Recruitment Outreach Programme
UAL Decolonising Arts Institute 20/20
The C Word: The Conservators’ Podcast The C Word: The Conservators’ Podcast
Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance Working Together: Embedding health and wellbeing leadership in museums and heritage organisations
Birmingham Museums Trust Birmingham Museums Trust’s Citizens Jury
Partnership of the Year
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
Exhibition Road Cultural Group South Ken ZEN+ Programme
North Yorkshire Council Out of the Box Learning
English Heritage Taskmaster and English Heritage Team Up
Permanent Exhibition of the Year
Natural History Museum Fixing Our Broken Planet
ZMMA Poole Museum
Shoemakers Museum at the Alfred Gillett Trust Place, people and purpose in a permanent exhibition
Avoncroft Museum of Buildings Revealing the Hidden Stories of the Showmen Community
Science and Industry Museum Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery
Restoration or Conservation Project of the Year sponsored by Sir Robert McAlpine
Durham University Conserving the Durham Shakespeare First Folio
Cannington Shaw Preservation Trust CIC No7 Bottle Shop
Norfolk Museums Service Norwich Castle: A Royal Palace Reborn
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
Shop of the Year
University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum Shop
Museum of the Home Museum Shop
Derby Museums Museum of Making’s sustainable retail season
Chatsworth House The Orangery Shop
National Theatre National Theatre Bookshop
Sustainable Project of the Year sponsored by National Lottery Heritage
Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace – Harmonising Heritage and Sustainability
Wardlaw Museum, University of St Andrews Rewrite the Future
Gloucestershire Archives Green Pledge Project
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
Team of the Year
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
Culture Leicestershire, Leicestershire County Council Villiers Revealed: We Have Always Been Here
Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year (Budget more than £80,000)
The National Gallery Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers
The National Archives MI5: Official Secrets
Manchester Museum and Air Giants The Cat That Slept for a Thousand Years
Wellcome Collection 1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader
Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year (Budget less than £80,000)
Food Museum School Dinners
New Forest Heritage Centre & Romani Community Archaeology The Close
Thackray Museum of Medicine Poo!
Museum of Transology TRANSCESTRY: 10 years of the Museum of Transology
Winchester Cathedral Whales
The Harris (Preston City Council) Wallace and Gromit in a Case at the Museum
Visitor Accessibility Award sponsored by The Stair Company
The Royal Air Force Museum The Royal Air Force Museum
Historic Royal Palaces Access Guides and Access Videos
Castle Howard Access and inclusion at Castle Howard: welcoming everyone
Victoria and Albert Museum Design and Disability
The Cartoon Museum Accessible Welcome
Visitor Welcome Award sponsored by ALVA – Association of Leading Visitor Attractions
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery Dorset Museum & Art Gallery Visitor Services Team
Japan House London Omotenashi in practice: delivering welcome through attentiveness and care
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum & Tour
National Football Museum Visitor First – A world-class welcome for every visitor, every day
Red Lodge (Bristol Museums) Spooky Week: A Walk Through Time
Volunteer(s) of the Year
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Punjab Registers Comparison Project
Wolverhampton Arts and Culture Wolverhampton Art Gallery Volunteer Visitor Ambassadors
East Grinstead Museum World War II remembered
Ullapool Museum Trust Ullapool Museum Young Curators
The Hovercraft Museum CIO Rising Above: 45 Volunteers Delivering a Nationally Significant Museum
Museums + Heritage Business of the Year
Harwell Restoration
Losonnante
Smartify
TownsWeb Archiving
Victoria Eggs
Vox Group
