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Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards 2023

18 October 2023

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards which this year celebrated 30 years of recognising exceptional achievements across the state’s museums and galleries sector.
Image of five women smiling in front of a sign that says ‘Victorian Museums & Galleries Awards, celebrating excellence in the museum and gallery sector’. The woman in the middle of the group is holding a certificate that says ‘Winner, Archival Survival Award for Small Project of the Year (Museum) for Hard Place/Good Place: Yarra Ranges’
2023 Victorian Museum and Galleries Awards. Yarra Ranges Regional Museum team (L-R: Madeline Reece, Alex Gerner, Megan Sheehy, Kitty Owens, Ruth McLean) with their Archival Survival Award for Small Project of the Year (Museum) for Hard Place/Good Place: Yarra Ranges. Image: Simon Fox Photography

This year, the awards received a record 55 nominations, with 11 awards presented, and 12 organisations recognised for achieving reaccreditation – the top tier standard for collecting institutions.

Individual winners include Tammy Nguyen of Vietnamese Museum Australia who won Volunteer of the Year, and Rose Hiscock of The University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery took home the Change-maker of the Year Award.

The Roslyn Lawry Award recognises excellence in cultural heritage and museum studies and went to Megan Grech of Deakin University. The award is facilitated and presented by Deakin University.

In organisations, Small Project of the Year (Museum) went to Yarra Ranges Regional Museum for their exhibition Hard Place/Good Place: Yarra Ranges, Medium Project of the Year (Gallery) was won by Art Gallery of Ballarat for their exhibition Beating About the Bush: A new lens on Australian Impressionism and the First Nations Project of the Year winner was Daylesford and District Historical Society with Djaara Elder Uncle Rick Nelson for their exhibition Coranderrk Portraits.

Organisations that received reaccreditation for continuing to meet the professional operations standards include Knox Historical Society and Burrinja Dandenong Ranges Cultural Centre.

The awards were administered by the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) Victoria and Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV). This was the first time that PGAV and AMaGA Victoria have partnered to deliver the awards.

To see the full list of winners and accreditations, or for more information, visit the AMaGA Victoria website.