Help us choose the winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award

Each year we celebrate the museums, galleries, historic homes and heritage sites that are most welcoming, fun, and accessible for families in our Family Friendly Museum Award.

“We had a great time when we were judges for the Family Friendly Museum Award. We loved being undercover judges and exploring the museum. We want to be a secret judge in every museum we go to now!”
Previous undercover family judge

From late March to early June, hundreds of families across the country voted for their favourite heritage attraction on our website. A panel of museum experts, children and young people then whittled down the nominations to a shortlist of 18 fantastic museums.

We are looking for families to visit our shortlisted museums and help us decide who should win! Enjoy a free visit to one of the UK’s most family friendly destinations over the summer holidays and help us improve heritage sites for the future.

What does being an undercover family judge involve?

As an undercover family judge, we will ask you to:

• visit at least one of the shortlisted museums as a family before 10 September 2023. We will cover your family’s ticket costs and travel expenses of up to £30.
• use our Kids in Museums Manifesto and prompt sheets provided to help judge how welcoming it is to families.
• give us feedback about your visit via an online survey or by phone with a member of staff or a volunteer from Kids in Museums by 15 September 2023.

Your feedback, along with that of our other undercover judges, will determine the winners of this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award.

Who can apply?

We are looking for families of all shapes and sizes to judge our shortlist! The only requirement is that your judging group must include at least one child under 16.

To judge the museums shortlisted for our Best Accessible Museum category, we are looking for families that include at least one member with access needs, such as autism or special needs and disabilities, to visit and judge these sites. In the form below, please only select the following museums if your family has access needs:

• Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens, Barnsley
• Craven Museum/ Skipton Town Hall
• Maidstone Museum

What you need to know:

• Opportunities to be undercover judges are offered on a first come first served basis – so apply early! (We will also work to ensure we include a range of families with children of different ages to visit each museum.)
• You can visit up to three museums on the shortlist.
• The visits can take place any time between July 2023 and 10 September 2023 when your chosen museum is open.
• The deadline for us to receive all feedback is 15 September 2023.
• We will cover travel expenses of up to £30 per family. We will provide a form for expenses claims for visits.
• We will arrange a free family ticket for any museums that charge for entry.

Apply to become an Undercover Family Judge

Please complete this short form to apply to be an undercover family judge. You will see a message after you press submit to confirm you have sent the form, but you will not receive an automatic confirmation email. We will get in touch within two weeks to let you know what happens next.

Thank you very much for offering to be part of this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award!