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Submit your nominations for the 2022 Excellence in Exhibition Awards

Nominations are due by January 16, 2023. Winners will be announced next spring.

It’s time once again to celebrate staff achievements in exhibition excellence!

As a reminder, the 2022 Smithsonian Excellence in Exhibitions Award applications are being accepted through JANUARY 16, 2023. This awards program, inaugurated in 2017, recognizes outstanding work in the field of exhibitions and acknowledges the dedication and creativity of exhibition staff throughout the Smithsonian.

Eligible exhibitions need to be open to the public during Calendar Year 2022. Please plan to submit an application to recognize exhibit excellence at your unit no later than midnight Eastern time on Monday, January 16, 2023. If the exhibition you would like to nominate is short-term or is located outside of the Washington, DC or New York City metropolitan areas, please consider creating a video walkthrough of the experience. Judging will likely be a mixture of in-person and via photo/video documentation.

Guidelines and application forms are available on the Award tab at exhibits.si.edu. You can also find the application at this SharePoint site: https://sinet.sharepoint.com/sites/SI-collab/exhaward/Pages/default.aspx

We will announce and celebrate winners in Spring 2023, including providing small cash prizes for the winning projects.

This year, funding for the Smithsonian Excellence in Exhibitions Awards will be provided by the Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian National Board. Special thanks for their support!

Recent Winners

The 2020/2021 Smithsonian Award for Exhibition Excellence was awarded to both the Anacostia Community Museum for Food for the People: Eating and Activism in Greater Washington and the National Museum of American History for Girlhood (It’s Complicated). The Special Achievement Award went to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum for Willi Smith: Street Couture.
The 2019 Smithsonian Award for Exhibition Excellence was awarded to the National Museum of Natural History for Deep Time. The 2019 Special Achievement Award went to two projects: Smithsonian Gardens for Habitat and The National Museum of African Art for Heroes: Principles of African Greatness.

Black and white photo of designer Willi Smith — *Willi Smith, ca. 1981, Courtesy of Kim Steele*

This program is coordinated by Smithsonian Exhibits (SIE) and PEEPS (Promoting Excellence among Exhibit Professionals at the Smithsonian). Steering Committee members: Monica Smith (Chair), Lemelson Center, NMAH; Saul Drake, SITES; Julia Garcia, NMAH; Matthew O’Connor, SIE. For questions about this program, please email ExhibitAward@si.edu.