The SS Great Britain which has been
shortlisted for the Gulbenkian prize.
Photograph: Mandy Reynolds/PA
It's a tough life, being a Gulbenkian prize judge, writes Joanna Moorhead. In fact, when the email plopped into my inbox asking whether I was up for being one of the seven people deciding on Britain's best museum for 2006, I suspected a wind-up. What, expenses-paid days out across the UK, to the country's best museums and galleries? Puhleeze: this is work, but not as I've known it.
Michael Day, chief executive of the Historic Royal Palaces and a judge last year who remained on the panel for this year's award, told me what a lovely job it would be, and I've not been disappointed. Over the last few weeks I've crossed the country from Edinburgh to Bristol, from Swansea to Wakefield, in search of that je ne sais quoi that will make one museum stand head and shoulders above the rest, and net it the £100,000 prize that goes with the accolade of museum of the year.
So what are the judges after? It's a tough one: there are so many different museums that sometimes it's like comparing oranges with apples. And yet, when you get the measure of a place, there are a few magic ingredients. Top of the list is the sort of enthusiasm that's catching: an enthusiasm that means you turn up somewhere knowing little about a subject, and leave feeling inspired by it. Beyond that, there are things like how welcoming a place is; how easy it is to access information; how much sense the layout makes; in a nutshell, how user-friendly it is. One question I've been particularly interested in is how much a museum does to keep teenagers happy: adolescents don't seem to be well served, especially in school holidays, by museums that bust a gut to keep their younger siblings amused. And the litmus test, as you drive away, is: would I come here again? Would I recommend it to others?
So, today, we announce our shortlist, chosen from a longlist of 10. In no particular order, the museums still in the running are: the Hunterian Museum in London, home to one of the most important medical collections in the world; Brunel's magnificently-renovated SS Great Britain in Bristol; the family-friendly and inspiring Collection in Lincoln; and the outdoor artfest of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield. Go see them, and enjoy: whichever wins the crown, they're all fabulous places for a day out.
For more details about the Gulbenkian prize, see thegulbenkianprize.org.uk.
