LONDON.- The Royal Academy of Arts has won the annual award for British Cultural Excellence at the Walpole Awards 2012. Walpole is a not-for-profit organisation that represents the British luxury industry.

The other winners of this year’s awards, sponsored by Coutts, were Mulberry, Burberry, Ferrari, Jaguar, Land Rover, Theo Fennell, Brown’s Hotel, Orlebar Brown and IWC Schaffhausen.

The award for British Cultural Excellence, sponsored by The Admirable Crichton, was given to the best British cultural achievement from a range of disciplines, including music, dance, theatre, art and film, both traditional and contemporary, in front of and behind the scenes in 2012. The nominees included Glyndebourne, Goodwood, National Portrait Gallery, The Cultural Olympiad and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The panel of judges comprised Dr Frederick Mostert, Walpole/Richemont; Jan Dalley, Financial Times; Luke Rittner, Royal Academy of Dance; Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen, RAD; Susan Boster, Boster Group; and Amanda Berry, BAFTA.

Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy of Arts, said, “We are delighted to have won this prestigious Award. 2012 has been an outstanding year for the Royal Academy in which we welcomed over 600,000 visitors to the David Hockney exhibition and we have brought to the very heart of London over 150 of the finest bronze artworks from across the globe in the current exhibition Bronze.”

Charles Saumarez Smith, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts said, “As we embark on an equally audacious international programme of exhibitions in 2013, we also enter a significant phase of expansion with the transformative Burlington Project. This development will see the Academy virtually double in size in time for our 250th anniversary in 2018, allowing us to realise our vision to become the leading, independent, international centre for visual culture. We are proud of the Royal Academy’s long-serving contribution to British cultural life and look forward to building on the successes of 2012 in future years.”

Walpole is now the largest European Luxury organisation of its kind, representing and over 175 leading brands and cultural institutions. The organisation provides over 40 events each year together with industry insight for member companies as well as mentoring entrepreneurial emerging British businesses, the UK’s finest craft makers and lobbying the UK government and the EU on behalf of the industry. As part of the European Creative and Cultural Industries Alliance, Walpole ensures that Europe’s luxury industries are valued, protected and promoted.