Two London museums have been announced as finalists for the Museum of the Year prize

We knew we had some good’uns

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an image of the interior of the v&a east storehouse
(Image credit: V&A East Storehouse)

The UK has museums a-plenty, whether it’s in the form of a proper colosseum-style Roman-esque building with security guards and a gift shop, or one of those leafy, English estate-style hoards of history. One thing they have in common is a secret ambition to win the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year award – namely, the most prestigious UK prize in the sector.

The V&A East Storehouse in Hackney is an unusual-style museum that only opened in May 2025. Located in Here East in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it offers a different style of museum, giving visitors access to over 250,000 objects, 350,000 books, and 1,000 archives, all in a modern, minimalist-style building. Imagine a trendy shopping mall with glass and granite, but instead of new shiny shops, it’s old, impressive artefacts, and you’re sort of there.

London’s National Gallery has also been shortlisted for the prize, thanks to its development during its bicentenary year (in 2025). Its 2025 celebrations included a widely celebrated rehang – which essentially means having a rejig of what goes where, sort of like when you move that little table from your bedroom to the awkward gap in your living room between the sofa and the wall, but, you know, on a much bigger, grander scale. The reopening of the Sainsbury Wing was also a big feature for securing the Gallery’s spot on the list.

an image of Giorgio Locatelli standing in front of Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus

(Image credit: Locatelli)

The annual prize offers winners £120,000, with £20,000 going to each of the other finalists, so no one really loses.

This year, the list has some pretty big hitters, most of which have undergone big refurbishments or have opened up new outposts as part of their cultural investment. Shortlisted museums include the Box, the National Gallery, Norwich Castle and Art Gallery. Last year, the winner was Beamish, the Living Museum of the North – an open-air museum in Durham which holds immersive exhibitions bringing the 1940s and 50s to life for their numerous visitors.

The winning museum will be announced on 25th June at a ceremony at Greenwich’s Cutty Sark.

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Hermione Blandford
Hermione Blandford
Content Editor

Hermione Blandford is the Content Editor for Shortlist’s social media which means you can usually find her scrolling through Instagram and calling it work, or stopping random people in the street and accosting them with a mini mic. She has previously worked in food and drink PR for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon's, The Singleton, Lagavulin and Don Julio which means she is a self confessed expert in spicy margaritas and pints, regularly popping into the pub in the name of research.

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