DORSET Museum has been shortlisted for a prestigious award out of hundreds of nominations.
The museum has made the shortlist for a Kids in Museums Family Friendly Award 2021, alongside four other small museums from across the country in the Best Small Museum category.
From April to June, families across the UK voted for their favourite heritage attractions on the Kids in Museum website. A panel of experts then whittled down the hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of just 20 heritage attractions.
Dorset Museum bosses are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the award so soon after reopening their doors in May after a £16m transformation that took nearly three years to complete.
Dr Jon Murden, director of Dorset Museum, said: "Making families welcome and giving them an excellent experience has been at the heart of the project to reimagine Dorset Museum.
"Our team has been working in consultation with our local community to bring an exciting and engaging programme of activities for families to enjoy.
"Our galleries have also been designed with a range of needs in mind offering tactile and interactive displays that engage, inspire and bring our collection to life.
"We're so proud to be shortlisted in the Kids in Museum Best Small Museum category so soon after opening our doors."
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Kids in Museums is a charity working with museums nationwide to make them more welcoming of children, young people and families. The Best Small Museum category is the only museum award that is judged by families.
Soon, Dorset Museum will be visited by undercover family judges who will assess it against the Kids in Museum Manifesto, a simple set of guidelines about what makes a heritage site great to visit, such as 'be welcoming', 'be accessible to all', and 'remember families come in all shapes and sizes'.
Once they have visited all the museums that have been shortlisted, the judges will decide a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2021.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.
For more information on Dorset Museum, visit www.dorsetmuseum.org/
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