What exactly is EMYA? -

09 May 2025

Photo: Bjørn Eide/Hurtigruten Museum

We are very proud that one of our museums has been nominated for EMYA 2025. But what exactly is EMYA?

The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is a prestigious award awarded annually by the European Museum Forum (EMF) under the patronage of the Council of Europe. The award promotes innovative approaches in the museum sector. EMYA highlights the importance of recognising and celebrating outstanding museums in Europe. The award contributes to development.

This is what the Norwegian Museum Association writes about EMYA: “The EMYA award is awarded to a museum that contributes to our understanding of the world in a significant way and contributes to the development of new paradigms and professional standards in museums. The winner demonstrates creative and imaginative approaches in the production of knowledge for interpretation, presentation and social responsibility.

The winning museum is transparent with core values of democracy, human rights and intercultural dialogue, sustainability, inclusion and civic participation, acknowledging conflicts and having the courage to confront them.”

European museum of the year award conference

The European Museum Forum (EMF) organises the annual European Museum of the Year Award conference (EMYA).

The conference is eventful and lasts over several days. They are held in a different place every year. In 2025, the conference will be held in Bialystok, Poland in May. It is during the conference that the EMYA award ceremony takes place.

Photos from jury visits in 2024. Photos inside: Museum Nord. Photo of the Hurtigruten Museum exterior: Erik Lindner Aspelund

Who can win emya?

The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) was founded in 1977 with the aim of recognising outstanding museums in Europe. EMYA can be given to recently opened museums, or that have undergone major renovations in the last three years. All types of museums are welcome to try to be nominated for the award, regardless of size.

The criteria for winning include several important aspects:

Innovation: The museum must show creativity and new approaches in exhibitions, activities or organisation.
Quality of exhibitions and programs: High quality, which engages and educates visitors.
Collaboration and community engagement: Ability to involve the local community and create partnerships.
Accessibility and inclusion: The museum should be accessible to everyone, including different user groups.
Sustainability: Focus on the environment, economy, and social impact.
Leadership and organization that shows creativity, resource utilization and strategic thinking.

The criteria are assessed by a jury consisting of museologists, cultural workers and experts from all over Europe. The winner is a museum that exemplifies outstanding practice and inspires others.

A glimpse from the Hurtigruten Museum. Visitors can, among other things, study exhibitions around the ship, see complete and authentic environments on board, enjoy food and drink in the ship’s café. All photos: Erik Lindner Aspelund

Background and history

For more than 40 years, EMYA/EMF has followed developments in European societies and the role of museums. EMYA/EMF has observed dramatic changes in the European museum landscape ? both quantitatively, with a rapid growth in the number of museums, and qualitatively, which affects how museums operate and how they are perceived.

The history of the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) stretches back to 1977.EMYA was established by the European Museum Forum (EMF) to promote best practice, innovation and excellence in European museums. The initiative aimed to elevate the role of museums in society, stimulate creativity and give recognition to museums that show exceptional development.

Impact of the award

EMYA has helped put European museums on the map globally, inspire creativity and promote development in the cultural sector.

From the start, EMYA/EMF awarded two main prizes: the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) and the Council of Europe Museum Prize. The awards were an effective way to keep track of and highlight changes in European museums. EMYA/EMF’s activities evolved from a competition between individual museums to a holistic approach to challenges facing the museum sector.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, EMYA/EMF was a strong advocate of smaller museums, as they played an important role in the change of museology. In the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, the fall of communism and the Iron Curtain, EMYA/EMF played an important role in developing professional relations between museums in Western and Eastern Europe. From the 2000s onwards, EMYA/EMF has encouraged new approaches in European museums, particularly work on controversial cultural heritage, intercultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage.

Over time, EMYA has become one of the most prestigious awards in the museum world. Originally, the award focused on rewarding museums for exhibitions, but over time, the assessment criteria have expanded to include leadership, community involvement, sustainability, and innovation.

The nominees for EMYA 2025

Among the 42 nominated museums, there are 2 museums from Norway: the Natural History Museum in Oslo and the Hurtigruten Museum in Stokmarknes.

Click here to see videos from all nominated museums.

Salon Stolz, Graz, Austria
Vienna Museum, Vienna, Austria
Carl Nielsen Museum, Odense, Denmark
Foundation Museum Ovartaci Aarhus, Denmark
Ensérune, Oppidum and Archaeological Museum, Nissan-lez-Ensérune, France
National Navy Museum, Paris, France
Savoisien Museum Chambéry, France
Deutschlandmuseum, Berlin, Germany
Maria Callas Museum Athens, Greece
The House of Music Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
Gallerie d’Italia Naples, Italy
Gallerie d’Italia, Turin, Italy
Het Loo Palace Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Open Air Museum Het Hoogeland Warffum, Netherlands
Museum Arnhem Arnhem, Netherlands
YWAM University Museum Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands
Miffy Museum Utrecht, Netherlands
Natural History Museum, University of Oslo Oslo, Norway
Coastal Express Museum Stokmarknes, Norway
Central Museum of Textiles in ?ód? ?ód?, Poland
Museum of Photography in Kraków Kraków, Poland
Krzysztofory Palace, Museum of Kraków Kraków, Poland
“Under the Swan” Pharmacy, Department of the Leon Wyczókowski District Museum Bydgoszcz, Poland
Museum of Amber, Department of Museum of Gdansk Gdansk, Poland
Alvor Lifeboat Interpretation Center Portimão, Portugal
Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal
Collective Memory Point Vad, Romania
House of the Volcanoes Lanzarote, Spain
Museum of Iberian Art El Cigarralejo Mula, Spain
The House of Architecture Madrid, Spain
Euskararen Etxea. House of the Basque Language. The Basque Language Interpretation Centre Bilbao, Spain
Medical History Museum Gothenburg, Sweden
Enter Technikwelt Solothurn Solothurn, Switzerland
Muzoo La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
International Museum of the Reformation Geneva, Switzerland
Glacier Garden Lucerne Lucerne, Switzerland
Isbank Museum of Painting-Sculpture Istanbul, Turkey
Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum Bodrum, Turkey
Istanbul Museum of Modern Art Istanbul, Turkey
Korsak’s Museum of Ukrainian Modern Art Lutsk, Ukraine
Manchester Museum Manchester, United Kingdom
Sainsbury Centre Norwich, UK

Museum Nord – 2 nominees

It is very prestigeous to be nominated for EMYA. A long list of criterias is to be met, and the competition is big. We are very proud that 2 museums within Museum Nord has achieved a nomination.

Lofotr Vikingmusem was nominated in 2013. The museum had in 2011 undergone essential upgrades, with a new exhibition, innovative use of technology and dissemination. Hurtigruten Museum is a nominee for EMYA 2025.