The Box in Plymouth Wins UK Museum Prize After Rapid Rise
A museum in Plymouth has taken the UK’s most closely watched museum honor, edging out the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum for the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize. The award, worth £120,000, was presented to Victoria Pomery, chief executive of The Box, by broadcaster and judge June Sarpong at a ceremony aboard the Cutty Sark at Royal Museums Greenwich.
The win caps a swift ascent for the west of England institution, which marked its fifth birthday last September and has already welcomed more than one million visitors. In a 2025 report, The Box said it had contributed £244 million to Plymouth’s economy. The museum also says its schools program reaches 10,000 children each year and has engaged 89% of Plymouth schools to date.
Judges highlighted the museum’s community-facing approach, including artist-led projects in 2025 by Osman Yousefzada, Jeremy Deller, and Jyll Bradley. Those initiatives, the panel said, expanded The Box’s engagement with local communities, reimagined the future through Plymouth’s past, and tested how historic collections can be reframed to challenge conventional museum narratives. A Beryl Cook exhibition at the venue this year also drew critical praise.
Jenny Waldman, director of Art Fund and chair of the judges, said in a statement that The Box has transformed how Plymouth’s collections are shared and experienced, describing it as a welcoming space that reaches beyond its walls into public spaces and nearly every school in the city. She added that its social and economic impact shows what long-term investment in culture can achieve, and noted that Plymouth City Council has championed the institution.
The Box is owned in part by Plymouth City Council, which holds its main site and the adjacent St. Luke’s church buildings. It is operated by Arca (Plymouth) Limited, a not-for-profit company, according to the museum’s website.
The other shortlisted museums — The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the National Gallery in London, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, and V&A East Storehouse in London — each receive £20,000. This year’s judges also included Tony Butler of Derby Museums, artist Yinka Ilori MBE, and author Alice Loxton. Last year’s prize went to Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham.
