The shortlists for the Art Fund Prize and the new Clore Award for Learning were revealed last month.

The museums in the running for the main prize are: the British Museum (for a History of the World); the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway; the Roman Baths Museum in Bath; and the Polar Museum, Cambridge.

Contenders for the £10,000 learning award are: Weston Park, Sheffield, for With Sheba and Arwa; National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth for Face to Face: the South London Gallery, London for Making Play; the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, for Making Museums; and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Newcastle upon Tyne, for Culture Shock.

But the museum that topped the public poll has not made it onto the shortlist for the £100,000 accolade. An online public poll saw Manchester’s People’s History Museum gain top spot with 26.3% of the vote.

Chairman of the judges Michael Portillo said: “Choosing a shortlist was not easy but we are agreed that these four museums and galleries exhibit remarkable innovation and flair, which excited us and clearly draws in the general public too.”