Press Releases

Family-Friendly at its best

Being family-friendly is a top priority for the National Waterfront Museum and a nomination for a national award confirms just that!

For the second time running, the Museum, the only one nominated in Wales, has once again secured a place on the long list for the 2009 Guardian Family Friendly Award.

From the hundreds and hundreds of family nominations received, the team at Kids in Museums - the award’s organisers - have managed to whittle down the huge piles of nominations to a long list of 20.

The National Waterfront Museum now joins the Dinosaur Farm Museum in the Isle of Wight, the World Museum in Liverpool and the National Railway Museum in York as nominees of the award.

Speaking about the nomination, Head of Museum Steph Mastoris said: “We’re absolutely delighted to once again make the long list for this award. All the staff at the Museum work extremely hard to make sure it offers a wide range of events, exhibitions and activities for the whole family to enjoy all year round.”

Dea Birkett, Director, Kids in Museums said: “The National Waterfront Museum faced really tough competition in getting on this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award long list, as we had more entries than ever before, and of extremely high quality. The museum shone through for its imaginative pioneering work and its commitment to making families a priority. We were particularly impressed by the wide range of activities they provided for young people and children of all ages.”

The Guardian Family Friendly Award is now firmly established as one of the most popular museum awards in Britain and the only award to be judged by families.

The 20-stong long list will now be presented to a panel of judges, chaired by Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Once this panel has drawn up a short list, these top museums will be road-tested, anonymously, by families. It is these families who pick the winner.

ENDS

For more information about the awards and to see the full long list, visit http://www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk

For more information about the National Waterfront Museum, contact Marie Szymonski on 01792 638970.

Admission to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales sites is free thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Amgueddfa Cymru operates seven national museums across Wales. These are National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, the National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon, Big Pit: National Coal Museum, Blaenafon, the National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre, the National Slate Museum, Llanberis and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.