The Art Fund announced The Box as winner of its Museum of the Year prize at a ceremony aboard the Cutty Sark in London on June 25, 2026, according to the organisation. Victoria Pomery, chief executive of the Plymouth institution, accepted the £120,000 award, the largest museum prize in the world, from broadcaster June Sarpong who served on the judging panel. Each of the four other shortlisted museums received £20,000 as part of a total £200,000 fund supported by Art Fund members and donors.
Since opening in September 2020 after a £48 million redevelopment, The Box has welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors, Art Fund figures show. The museum has generated more than £100 million in health and wellbeing benefits while boosting Plymouth’s local economy by £244 million, a report published in 2025 indicated. Its education programme reaches almost nine in 10 of the city’s schools and engages 10,000 children each year, according to the Art Fund.
Judges praised the museum for its ambitious and welcoming approach that combines collections, exhibitions and archives with impactful community engagement. Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director and chair of the judging panel, described The Box as “a true jewel in the crown of the South West” in a statement. She added that in just five years it transformed how Plymouth’s collections of more than two million items are shared while reaching beyond its walls into public spaces and nearly every school in the city.
June Sarpong highlighted the sense of ownership the venue has created among residents. “What stood out so strongly with The Box was the sense of pride and connection it has created across Plymouth,” Sarpong said. “It is a museum that genuinely belongs to the people it serves.”
The Box recorded 356,000 visits in its 2025/2026 season, exceeding its target of 300,000, the museum’s annual review reported. Critically acclaimed exhibitions such as Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy and artist-led projects by Osman Yousefzada, Jeremy Deller and Jyll Bradley contributed to that performance, according to coverage in The Art Newspaper. Those initiatives expanded engagement with local communities and reimagined historic collections to amplify overlooked voices.
The other shortlisted institutions were the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the National Gallery in London, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, and V&A East Storehouse in London, the Art Fund reported. This year’s judging panel also included Tony Butler, executive director of Derby Museums, and historian Alice Loxton. The award celebrates museums that demonstrate innovation, accessibility and societal value.
The Box plans to direct the prize money toward expanding access and community programmes across Plymouth, according to statements from the museum. Last year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year went to Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, prior reports noted. The prize has recognised leading UK cultural institutions annually for more than a decade.
