The Art Fund recently announced the museums up for its Museum of the Year title and £120,000 grand prize, a competition that’s believed to be the world’s largest museum prize. Among those nominated are Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, The Box in Plymouth, The National Gallery, and V&A East Storehouse, both in London.

Museum of the Year Nominees Announced

According to Art Fund director Jenny Waldman, the shortlisted sites showcased “extraordinary creativity and innovation”. She also stated she hoped the charity’s announcement would inspire people to explore the finalists and their local museums.

“From opening up world-leading collections to connecting with communities of all ages through ambitious exhibitions and programmes, each one offers something special,” Waldman said. “We are thrilled to celebrate their achievements as finalists.”

After a five-year redevelopment period, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery reopened last summer and is now said to be the UK’s most accessible castle. Its rooms aim to show an authentic display of life in the 12th Century.

The V&A Storehouse, which opened in May 2025, is based in the Olympic Park in Stratford and creatively uses storerooms and partitions to allow visitors to see “and breathe the same air” as the objects. The Box is a £4.6 million museum and gallery described as the largest cultural center in southwest England.

The National Gallery reportedly went “the extra mile in every direction” during its bicentenary year in 2025, with a celebrated rehang and reopening of the Sainsbury Wing. And the Fitzwilliam Museum invited artists to “interrogate the museum and create work in conversation with the collection”, as an effort to look inward. Praised by the Guardian as “a model for what artists can do in such a setting.”

The winner is due to be announced on June 25 with a ceremony at the Cutty Sark in London. Though the grand prize winner will take home a whopping £120,000, the four other finalists will also receive £20,000 each. Waldman said the other finalists each “innovated in different ways”.

The prize is funded by Art Fund members who buy a National Art Pass, as well as people who support the group’s work. Last year’s winner was open-air attraction Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, based near Stanley in County Durham.