Newark’s National Civil War Centre is delighted to have been shortlisted for a national Family Friendly Museum Award for the second year running.

Charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award since 2004, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. It is the only museum award to be judged by families.

From late March to early June, families across the UK voted for their favourite heritage attraction on the Kids in Museums website. A panel of museum experts then whittled down hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of 19 heritage attractions.

The National Civil War Centre is vying against 4 other museums in the Best Small Museum category.

Carys Coulton-Jones, Business Manager for Heritage and Culture at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Myself and the whole team are so happy to have been recognised with this nomination. It means so much that the award is voted for and judged by families as we’ve really been striving over the past few years to improve and increase our offer to them, introducing free entry for local residents, creating and evolving our fantastic summer Playhem activities and introducing a Family Panel which we’re launching at a special event on Saturday 20 July. We’re really excited for everyone, including our undercover judges, to come and enjoy all the family fun over the school holidays which our amazing Learning Team have been working so hard on.” 

As well as having brilliant family-friendly interactives in its galleries, The National Civil War Centre runs family events throughout the year, with a Family Saturday on the first weekend of each month. Saturday 6 July’s event will be Plant Power which will see volunteers from Newark Community Gardeners in the Tudor Hall offering crafts making paper pots and helping visitors to plant flowers in them themselves. The Family Panel launch event on 20 July, accompanied by a fascinating Festival of Archaeology, will include the chance to get a taster of our Playhem activities, enjoy some refreshments and meet the passionate team behind the scenes who are eager to hear your feedback.

Over the summer holidays, the museum will be visited by undercover family judges who will assess the shortlisted museums against the Kids in Museums Manifesto, a set of guidelines on what makes a great museum visit for all ages. Their experiences will decide a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2024. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on social media by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum and stay up to date with National Civil War Centre events by following them on social media or visiting www.nationalcivilwarcentre.com/whatson.

The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.