Shortlists coming soon
Our Museums Change Lives Awards take place at our annual conference each year, recognising and celebrating outstanding work by UK museums delivering social impact. The awards promote best practice from museums and individuals that supports communities and engages with contemporary issues.
The Museums Change Lives Awards 2026 are sponsored by PLB.
Nominations for this year’s awards have now closed – thank you all for your entries. Shortlists for each of the awards will be announced in September 2026.
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Read on to find out more about our four categories and eligibility criteria.
Categories and criteria
There are three awards to be presented to institutions, and one to an individual. This section sets out the different awards and the criteria by which they will be judged.
Institutional awards
Best Museums Change Lives Project
This category will recognise the best practice in the field of social impact by a museum within the period of eligibility.
The judges will be looking for high quality, innovative work that reflects one or more of the themes of Museums Change Lives: Promoting Health and Wellbeing; Creating Better Places; and/or Inspiring Engagement, Reflection and Debate.
Judges will look in particular for projects that:
- Work in partnership with other organisations to deliver positive outcomes
- Have a clear link to the museum’s collection and/or venue
- Support community cohesion and work in collaboration with local groups
- Diversify the museum’s audience
- Enable audiences to take action or change behaviour in response to the work
- Use research to underpin project delivery and outcomes
- Are relevant to major current social or environmental issues
Museums applying for the Best Museums Change Lives Project can also apply for any of the other institutional awards, subject to eligibility.
Best Small Museum Project
This category will recognise the best example of work delivering social impact by a smaller museum. It is only open to museums with an operating budget of less than £336,000 p.a. in the most recent completed financial year.
The judges will be looking for high quality, innovative work that is designed to deliver social impact. Applicants should show how their work reflects one or more of the themes of Museums Change Lives: Promoting Health and Wellbeing; Creating Better Places; and/or Inspiring Engagement, Reflection and Debate.
Judges will look in particular for projects that:
- Work in partnership with other organisations to deliver positive outcomes
- Have a clear link to the museum’s collection and/or venue
- Support community cohesion and work in collaboration with local groups
- Diversify the museum’s audience
- Enable audiences to take action or change behaviour in response to the work
- Use research to underpin project delivery and outcomes
- Are relevant to major current social or environmental issues
Museums applying for the Best Small Museum Project can also apply for any of the other institutional awards, subject to eligibility.
New for 2026 | Inclusive Spaces Award
This category will recognise the best example of a museum exploring complex and divisive histories in an increasingly polarised world. Entrants should show how they are using their spaces to bring communities together to challenge assumptions, foster debate and inspire people to make positive change.
Judges will look in particular for projects or work that:
- Is relevant to major current social or environmental issues
- Works in partnership with communities to deliver positive outcomes
- Has a clear link to the museum’s collection and/or venue
- Supports community cohesion and work in collaboration with local groups
- Diversifies the museum’s audience
- Enables audiences to take action or change behaviour in response to the work
- Uses research to underpin project delivery and outcomes
Museums applying for this award can also apply for any of the other institutional awards, subject to eligibility.
Individual award
Radical Changemaker Award
This award will recognise the contribution of an individual who has advanced the cause of delivering social impact in one or more museums.
The judges will be looking for evidence of how the individual has actively contributed in the past year to the delivery of one or more of the themes of Museums Change Lives: Promoting Health and Wellbeing; Creating Better Places; and/or Inspiring Engagement, Reflection and Debate.
Judges will be look in particular for an individual who:
- Leads and innovates in areas of national, regional or local practice
- Fosters a culture of relevance and continuous improvement for public benefit and social justice
- Fosters a representative, creative and supportive culture by implementing fair and inclusive practices
- Develops and embeds new ways of working to support and sustain change-making and improvement
It is open to employees, freelancers or volunteers.
You can nominate yourself or another person. The nominee must be a member of the Museums Association.
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Judging panel
The panel will be made up of MA conference panel members, board members, MA staff and external partners:
- Ross McKirdy, museum manager, Grampian Transport Museum and MA trustee
- Birmingham Museums’ Citizens’ Jury
- Sharon Heal, director, Museums Association
- Ken Griffin, curator, the Egypt Centre
- Jodie Henshaw, museum curator, Mansfield Museum
Prizes and ceremony
The MA will seek to arrange cash prizes of £500 for each of the award winners.
In addition, the winners of each award will receive a trophy, a framed certificate, and substantial coverage in a special report in Museums Journal and via the MA’s other communications channels.
The awards will be presented during a ceremony in November 2026 at MA Conference 2026: Museums Connecting Communities. All nominees (a total of 12) will receive two free entries to the conference for the day of the awards.
Lead image: Visitors at Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, whose Early Bird Explorer Breakfast Club was shortlisted for Best Museums Change Lives Project at the Museums Change Lives Awards 2025
