This new section of the website will grow in time and serve as a historical archive of previous EMYA editions.
Starting with EMYA2020 and EMYA2021, you can find everything about each emya edition, discover the winners and candidates of each year, explore their websites, read their messages, watch their videos and reach further information on EMYA annual conferences and award ceremonies.
For EMYA editions before 2020, please visit The Winners section.
EMYA2024
Portimão, Portugal
EMYA2024
Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony
The EMYA2024 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony took place in Portimão, Portugal from 1 to 4 May 2024.
Organised by the European Museum Forum and hosted by the Municipality of Portimão and Portimão Museum, the EMYA2024 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony brought together members of the EMYA community including former candidates, partners and friends, in addition to the EMYA2024 nominee museums.
We thank everyone who joined us celebrating this special moment and congratulate the winners of this year in different award categories as well as the nominees who took part in the EMYA2024!
About the host
After many years leading a nomadic existence, moving our offices (and our archives) to different cities across Europe, EMF/EMYA finally found a long-term home in 2018 in Portimão, in Portugal’s Algarve.
The Municipality of Portimão is committed to democratic access to culture, which was reflected in Portimão Museum winning the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 2010. Dedicated to cultural participation in Europe, the Municipality’s partnership with EMYA is a way to build on the success of their innovative museum and support the development of museums across the continent. The partners agreed that the Municipality, through the museum, would provide administrative support for the EMF and a home for the EMF/EMYA Archive.
In recognition of this support, the EMF has created the Portimão Museum Prize for a museum that, in the opinion of the jury, is the most welcoming and friendly of that year’s nominated candidates. These are very important values for Portimão, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. The main quality the prize celebrates is a friendly atmosphere of welcome so that all visitors, no matter what their background, feel they belong in the museum. All elements of the museum – its human qualities and physical environment – contribute to the feeling of welcome, as do events and activities in and round the museum.
EMYA2023
Barcelona, Spain
EMYA2023
Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony
The EMYA2023 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony took place in Barcelona, from 3 to 6 May 2023. Organised by the European Museum Forum and hosted by MUHBA - Museu Historia de Barcelona, the EMYA2023 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony brought together members of the EMYA community including former candidates, partners and friends, in addition to the EMYA2023 nominee museums.
We congratulate all EMYA2023 candidates and winners and thank them to make the EMYA2023 such a memorable event.
About the host
The Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA), which belongs to the Barcelona City Council, is a heritage institution of urban knowledge, polycentric, with museum spaces throughout the city and collections that cover the long history of the city, from the Romans to our time. These heritage spaces support a choral narrative of the urban history of Barcelona that aspires to be relevant both to the citizens of the city itself and to tourists who come from far away. If we are interested in the future, it is worth asking about the choices made in the past.
As a hub for participatory urban knowledge, the museum’s program ranges from research and debates to publications, permanent and temporary exhibitions, urban itineraries and educational projects. The museum aspires to be an agora museum and a school museum and works in cooperation with other institutions and citizen associations.
To carry out its mission, the MUHBA adopts a multiscale perspective, from neighborhoods to the city as a whole and its insertion into the world. In its role as an R&D&I center in urban history, heritage care and public programming, the museum must be able to disseminate and even export knowledge. The results must be reflected both in the virtual world, understanding the web as a true hub of knowledge, and in museum spaces, face-to-face activities and urban tours.
The Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA) was opened in April 1943. This year, the MUHBA is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its inauguration.
EMYA2022
Tartu, Estonia
EMYA2022
Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony
The European Museum Forum is happy to announce the winners of the European Museum of the Year Awards for 2022. The winners in different categories under the EMYA scheme were presented on the last day of the EMYA2022 Annual Conference and Award Ceremony that was held on 4-7 May 2022 in Tartu, Estonia.
Organised by the European Museum Forum and hosted by the Estonian National Museum, the event took place in a traditional EMYA format with a physical, rich and intense annual conference and award ceremony and brought together members of the EMYA community including candidates, partners and friends.
This year, the main theme of the conference was defined as “Museums Addressing Local and Global Issues in and with Their Communities”.
The European Museum Forum expresses its gratitude to the 60 nominated museums who kept faith with EMYA in applying and in welcoming the judges in the unusual circumstances of Covid-19. Special thanks go to our sponsors and partners for their continuous support for EMF through these difficult years.
About the host
The Estonian National Museum, awarded by the EMYA with Kenneth Hudson Prize in 2018, was founded in Tartu in 1909 on the initiative and with the support of the nation – with the task to protect and develop the history and culture of Estonia.
As in many other European countries, primary importance was attached to preserving the old, fading peasant culture. Also considered essential was gathering and looking after artifacts contributing to better understanding of cultural development, archaeological findings, old coins, books, manuscripts and historical records.
Today, Estonian National Museum preserves the feeling of continuity and tradition. The museum is the generator and developer of cultural dialogue which links the past and the future. ENM`s role as a centre of ethnological research is to record, study and interpret culture as a way of life, taking into account its periodical, spatial and social diversity. The Museum's function as a contemporary cultural and tourist centre is to show Estonian culture's uniqueness and primeval power of creation to every Estonian and visitor.
EMYA2021
Online event
EMYA2021
Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony
The winners of EMYA2020 were announced at the EMYA2020 and 2021 online ceremony on Thursday, 6 may 2021. Congratulations to all EMYA2020 and EMYA2021 winners and candidates!
Winners
Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, Netherlands)
The European Museum of the Year Read more
Gulag History Museum (Moscow, Russian Federation)
The Council of Europe Museum Prize Read more
CosmoCaixa (Barcelona, Spain)
The Kenneth Hudson Award Read more
Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum (Bayburt, Türkiye)
The Silletto Prize Read more
Gruuthusemuseum (Brugge, Belgium)
The Portimão Museum Prize Read more
Museum Walserhaus (Bosco Gurin, Switzerland)
The Meyvaert Museum Prize for Sustainability Read more
Special Commendations
EMYA2020
Online event
EMYA2020
Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony
The winners of EMYA2020 were announced at the EMYA2020 and 2021 online ceremony on Thursday, 6 may 2021. Congratulations to all EMYA2020 and EMYA2021 winners and candidates!