September 6, 2026
Choose the winners Awards
ICOM COMMS Awards 2026
Now it’s your turn to vote.
The COMMS Awards celebrate the museums and communicators reimagining how our institutions connect with the world. After a rigorous jury curation, the finalists are in — and the winners are decided by a combined jury and public vote.
Cast your vote
Winners revealed at the ICOM COMMS + ICOMON Annual Conference 2026, “Back to Basics,” 2–4 December, Heureka Science Center, Vantaa, Finland.
From heritage rescued under war to campaigns that turned scarce resources into national impact, from AI in the gallery to storytelling that renews how we see the familiar — this year’s finalists span every continent and every craft of museum communication.
Projects were assessed on innovation, creativity and strategic excellence, with online resonance treated as supporting evidence of communicational impact. Under-resourced institutions were not penalized for a smaller online footprint where that footprint reflects resources, language or region rather than quality. Each category carries a shortlist of four finalists — exceptionally five, where the density of strong work justified it — and up to two honorable mentions. Finalists are presented without ranking and compete on equal terms. Best of the Year carries five finalists. Some projects appear as finalists in more than one category where their strength across both lenses justifies it; these dual placements are noted in the relevant assessments.
Below are the finalists in each of the nine categories, with a short summary of every project and why it deserves your vote. Finalists compete on equal terms; there is no ranking within a shortlist.
How voting works: winners are chosen “Eurovision-style,” combining the jury’s score with the public vote. Read each project, then cast your vote — the link is at the top and bottom of this page.
Best with Less
Ingenuity with scarce resources.
Entrada Liberada
Nicolás Rojas Inostroza · Chile
Chile’s first TV program devoted to museums, made by a team of three to five people who turned a twice-rejected funding bid into four seasons, 200+ museums and all 16 regions. Vote for proof that scarcity can become creative leverage — and that the reach was earned, not borrowed.
Saving the Memory: Protecting Heritage in Times of War
Mayasem Association / Al-Qarara Cultural Museum · Palestine (Gaza)
Grassroots, Palestinian-led heritage rescue and communication under war, with more than 2,000 items evacuated under fire and genuine global resonance. Vote for the purest embodiment of doing the essential with almost nothing.
Viscosos pero Sabrosos
MuCi — Museo de Ciencias del Paraguay · Paraguay
A zero-extra-budget tasting activation inside an insect exhibition that sold out twice and spun off a reusable sub-brand. Vote for textbook resourcefulness — a whole campaign conjured from an idea, not a budget.
From the VK Feed to the Castle
Sheremetev Castle · Russia
A remote museum far from any city turned its social channel into a living extension of the visit — no paid media, no agency, one in-house voice. Vote for authentic reach built from nothing but knowledge and consistency.
Best Crisis Management
Message and reputation under pressure.
A Whale Tale
Ocean Museum Germany · Germany
When a stranded whale drew a coordinated online backlash — threats, conspiracy theories, an influencer with 1.11M followers — a small team held the institution’s reputation with transparency and consistency, reaching billions. Vote for crisis communication at its most demanding.
From Mud to Method
SEM/RS — Museu Júlio de Castilhos · Brazil
Out of Brazil’s worst climate disaster came a color-coded crisis-communication framework and an open-access e-book with ICOM Brazil. Vote for turning catastrophe into a transferable method the whole sector can use.
Communicating Seismic Shifts
Museum of Anthropology, UBC · Canada
An 18-month closure for a US$40M retrofit, handled by two in-house communicators who kept engagement rising and trust intact through to a record reopening. Vote for disciplined, measured issues communication over the long haul.
Saving the Memory: Protecting Heritage in Times of War
Mayasem Association / Al-Qarara Cultural Museum · Palestine (Gaza)
Heritage communication sustained through war, authentic and grassroots, carrying a museum’s story to the world when the museum itself was under threat. Vote for resilience of the highest order.
Best Press Office Campaign
Winning earned media
Chipa Laboratory
MuCi — Museo de Ciencias del Paraguay · Paraguay
Cultural newsjacking that slipped science into the national Holy Week conversation — 88 outlets and roughly US$49,300 in earned media value, with zero paid placement. Vote for press relations executed and measured to the letter.
Histories for the Present
Museu do Ipiranga · Brazil
A powerful earned-media engine around a landmark reopening: 392 press mentions and a national broadcast reaching 22.5M. Vote for the scale and quality of coverage a museum press office can command.
Secrets of the Sunken City
Alexandria National Museum · Egypt
A moment of extraordinary international visibility captured across the world’s major outlets. Vote for the skill of turning a big moment into sustained public attention for underwater heritage.
Best Marketing Campaign
Creative concept, real results
Marketing Generation 2026
Amos Rex · Finland
Equal billing for 50 young artists and a channel mix aimed where young people actually are — lifting the 18–34 share of reach from 24% to 43% at a CPM well below market. Vote for marketing that reached a new generation and measured every step.
Science for Everyone
MuCi — Museo de Ciencias del Paraguay · Paraguay
A 360° platform campaign that reached over 1.5 million people on just US$3,900 of paid media. Vote for a bold idea, real multichannel craft, and efficiency few campaigns can match.
Alles Hanse 2024
European Hansemuseum · Germany
A witty motif system linking the medieval Hanse to contemporary life, awarded Bronze at the Public Marketing Awards 2025. Vote for concept and design of genuine professional distinction.
Anahuacalli Mundialista
Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli · Mexico
A World-Cup-themed activation that connected the museum to a global event, drawing 6.25M media impressions and thousands of new visitors. Vote for an activation that met a mega-moment on its own terms.
Best Brand Identity or Rebranding Project
Identity that carries meaning
From Bankarium to MUZA
MUZA · Slovenia
A corporate bank museum reborn as a public cultural institution, with a naming architecture as sharp as its strategy — money meets art. Vote for the most sophisticated brand thinking in the field.
Facets of a Changing Museum
Museu do Diamante · Brazil
A mining-pan logo became diamond facets, translating a museum’s transformation into a complete brand system — with five years of TripAdvisor recognition to show for it. Vote for concept and execution proven by results.
Reimagining Trakošćan
Trakošćan Castle Museum · Croatia
A contemporary brand for one of Croatia’s most recognizable castle-museums, bridging heritage and a modern visitor experience. Vote for a considered identity that honors the past while opening the future.
Memorial Peloton
Sybir Memorial Museum · Poland
A unified brand built for decentralized use, growing a local memorial ride into an international initiative across five countries. Vote for identity as a tool for cooperation and shared memory.
Best Integrated Communications Strategy
Many channels, one purpose
The Civic Spark Studio
National Constitution Center · USA
A decade-long civic campaign anchored by a purpose-built, accessible studio for recording testimony — virtual, physical and social woven together. Vote for ambition and architecture in equal measure.
From Data to Dialogue
National Museum of Indonesia · Indonesia
An evidence-led transformation grounded in the country’s first audience-behavior study, personas, and a passport that went viral. Vote for a replicable method that starts with research and ends in dialogue.
Communicating Seismic Shifts
Museum of Anthropology, UBC · Canada
Five years of disciplined earned, owned and paid strategy, grounded in audience research and measured throughout. Vote for one of the most complete communications cases in the whole field.
Histories for the Present
Museu do Ipiranga · Brazil
Audiovisual, podcast, press and digital pulled together around a reopening, with a robust earned-media backbone. Vote for multichannel integration that genuinely worked as one.
Best Digital or Social Media Campaign
Native digital craft
Museum Night 2026
Cultural Development Foundation · Armenia
The most complete digital campaign of the year: a unified identity, 18 influencers, a digital map and partnerships — with its own reach and 143,971 visitors in a single day. Vote for social craft that delivered a measurable result.
Har Ghar Museum
National Council of Science Museums · India
A nationwide campaign that turned every household into a museum and every citizen into a curator — 100,000+ objects, 15M+ views, a national award. Vote for a bold reimagining of social media as a participatory museum.
Talking with Tyeb Mehta
Ask Mona × Kiran Nadar Museum of Art · France / India
A voice-first, bilingual conversational AI you can talk to in the gallery with no app — cutting-edge and genuinely accessible. Vote for innovation put at the service of inclusion.
100 Days of Heritage Truth
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities · Egypt
A hundred days of daily myth-versus-fact posts in seven languages, taking on heritage disinformation with real editorial consistency. Vote for social media with purpose and stamina.
Best Storytelling Project
Narrative that renews the familiar
Beyond the Icon: Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Kahlo · Mexico
The hardest narrative challenge — telling a new story about someone the world thinks it knows — resolved through family, care and community, in multisensory layers and four languages. Vote for storytelling at the highest level.
Museum Diary of War
Bleshchunov Odesa Museum · Ukraine
A bilingual graphic novel that tells the story of a museum’s wartime resilience through the eyes of two museum cats, using a universal language to address a difficult subject. Vote for originality and heart, already recognized internationally.
The Museum in Progress
KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes · Norway
A renovation closure reimagined as a ‘reality show,’ turning care and conservation into narrative and the question from ‘when does it reopen?’ to ‘how is it going?’. Vote for a brilliant, disarming idea.
Kevin’s Room
STAM — Ghent City Museum · Belgium
From one child’s dream to 150 years of a city’s football history, identity and passion — built by a large team with collaborators from across Ghent. Vote for urban storytelling with genuine civic depth.
Digital Collections
Museu da Língua Portuguesa · Brazil
A narrative platform first and a collection second — an interactive ‘Language in Motion’ map, timelines and virtual exhibitions from a reference institution. Vote for rich, curatorially strong digital storytelling.
Best Audience Engagement Initiative
Real participation, wider audiences
Art Hunter
Museu Oscar Niemeyer — MON · Brazil
A playful art hunt across the museum gardens that lifted outdoor visitation by 32.5% and social interactions by 177.5%. Vote for family engagement that is joyful and measurable at once.
Finland’s Most Curious Class
Heureka, the Finnish Science Center · Finland
School marketing reframed as participation: 711 questions from 237 classes turned the audience into the content, at 91.7% satisfaction. Vote for an idea that flips the whole relationship between museum and school.
ARGO: A Journey for People Living with Dementia
Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) · Greece
Museums across Volos opened as spaces of inclusion and wellbeing for people living with dementia and their caregivers, recognised by ICOM-CECA. Vote for engagement that widens who museums are for.
Gallery Walk with Bess
The Hunterian, University of Glasgow · Scotland
A decolonial encounter for Chinese diaspora students through object handling and bilingual dialogue — conceptually original and transferable. Vote for a fresh model of belonging in the university museum.
From Audiences to Objects
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino · Chile
Audio-guides redesigned around the visitor, with real cognitive, linguistic and sensory accessibility — beginning with people, not objects. Vote for accessibility placed at the heart of the visit.
And the Best of the Year
Five projects, drawn from across the categories, also stand for the field’s highest distinction — the Best of the Year.
No ranking: all five compete equally for your vote.
- A Whale Tale — Ocean Museum Germany (Germany)
- Entrada Liberada — Chile
- Saving the Memory — Mayasem / Al-Qarara (Palestine)
- Beyond the Icon: Frida Kahlo — Museo Casa Kahlo (Mexico)
- Museum Diary of War — Bleshchunov Odesa Museum (Ukraine)
Ready to choose?