LONDON.- The Hepworth Wakefield was announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017 this evening (5 July 2017), the largest and most prestigious museum prize in the world. The £100,000 prize was presented by broadcaster and member of the judging panel Jo Whiley at a ceremony in the spectacular setting of the Great Court at the British Museum, London.

The winner was chosen from five finalists: Lapworth Museum of Geology (Birmingham), National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art (Newmarket), Sir John Soane’s Museum (London), Tate Modern (London), The Hepworth Wakefield. For the first time this year, each of the other finalist museums receives a £10,000 prize in recognition of their achievements.

Among the 470 guests at the dinner hosted by Stephen Deuchar, director, Art Fund were:

Artists: Mat Collishaw, Edmund de Waal, Richard Deacon, Jeremy Deller, Tom Ellis, Maggi Hambling, Lubaina Himid, Charles Jencks, Chantal Joffe, Michael Landy, Langlands & Bell, Lawrence Lek, Peter Liversidge, Melanie Manchot, Christian Marclay, Polly Morgan, Paul Noble, Marc Quinn, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Bob and Roberta Smith, Georgina Starr, Mitra Tabrizian, Gavin Turk, Gillian Wearing, Bill Woodrow.

Arts leaders: Maria Balshaw, Director, Tate; Gabriele Finaldi, Director National Gallery; Hartwig Fischer, Director, British Museum; John Glen, MP & Parliamentary Under Secretary for Arts, Heritage and Tourism; Tristram Hunt, Director V&A; Diane Lees, Director, IWM; Charles Saumarez-Smith, Chief Executive, RA; Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England; Lord Smith, Chair, Art Fund; Ed Vaizey, MP.

Art Fund awards the Art Fund Museum of the Year annually to one outstanding museum, which, in the opinion of the judges, has shown exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement across the preceding 12 months. It is the biggest museum prize in the world and the largest arts award in Britain. This year it recognised that, though these are difficult times for many museums, facing a perpetual challenge to secure the funding they need, this is also a moment for mass celebration of the extraordinary diversity of UK museums and all they are doing.

The judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017 were: Richard Deacon, artist; Stephen Deuchar, Director, Art Fund (chair); Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum; Munira Mirza, advisor on arts and philanthropy; Jo Whiley, Radio DJ and television presenter.

Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director and chair of the judges, said: ‘The Hepworth Wakefield was a powerful force of energy from the moment it opened in 2011, but it has just kept growing in reach and impact ever since. David Chipperfield’s building has proved a perfect stage – both for the display of collections and as a stage for a breathtaking sequence of special exhibitions (including retrospectives of Stanley Spencer and Martin Parr in 2016), curated with determined originality by the talented curatorial team. The Hepworth serves its local community with unfailing flair and dedication and contributes centrally to regional tourism too, bringing 210,275 visitors in 2016, up 21% on the previous year. 2016 also saw the launch of The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture, which earned instant national status, and there are plans on the horizon for an ambitious garden project in the year ahead. It’s the museum everyone would dream of having on their doorstep.’

Jo Whiley, said, ‘For me personally - museums and galleries are an infinite source of creative inspiration. Travelling around the country and discovering places that were completely new to me has really opened my eyes to the incredible work that UK museums are doing. Any one of the short-listed museums would have been a worthy winner, and the pressure was very much on in making this tough decision, but in the end we all agreed that The Hepworth Wakefield was a worthy winner.’