Entries close in one week

You are running out of time to enter the Museums and Galleries National Awards . Entries close on Monday 30 March.

Entries will be accepted only through Museum Australia’s Online Awards Portal. Go to the Portal, click on ENTER MAGNA and submit as many entries as you like. Entry is free for Museums Australia members.

The MAGNAs are only open to MA Members with the exception of the Indigenous Project or Keeping Place category has open entry.

MA’s National Awards

Who can enter?

Are you an organisational member of Museums Australia? Yes? You can enter!

The MAGNAs are only open to MA members* in Australia (sorry New Zealand, you have your own which, coincidentally, are also open for entries).

*The Indigenous Project or Keeping Place category is open to non-members as well as MA members.

How much does it cost?

Nothing! Free entry to the MAGNAs is a benefit of your membership.

What can we enter?

We’ve got a category for just about everything:

• Permanent Exhibition or Gallery Fitout
• Temporary or Travelling Exhibition
• Interpretation and Audience Engagement
• Indigenous Project or Keeping Place
• Innovation

More information on each category is available on the website.

You can enter any project that you have not entered into a previous MAGNA awards. Preferably, the project would have been developed or launched in the previous year (2014).

How do we enter?

The 2015 MAGNAs are going online. Your will be asked around about 5-7 questions (depending on the category) with each question limited to 300 words. You will have the opportunity to upload several items of supporting material.

We ask that you do not post us any other materials.

Entries are made through our Online Awards Portal from Monday 23 February. The Portal will walk you through the application process and we’ll keep you up to date.

Can we enter more than one thing?

Of course. You can even enter an exhibition in one of the Exhibition categories AND the public program that accompanied the exhibition in the Interpretation and Audience Engagement category AND the whiz-bang, ground-breaking technical or interpretive amazingness that you invented for the same exhibition in the Innovation category.

When do entries close?

Entries will close on Monday 30 March 2015. There may or may not be an extension – we like to keep it a surprise. So you’d better get your entries in before the closing date.

Who is judging this thing, anyway?

The MAGNA judging panel revolves each year. We endeavour to invite a representative selection of people to judge each category based on:

• Expertise and experience in the specific area
• Large or small museum affiliation
• Metropolitan and regional representation
• Museums, galleries, libraries and heritage, as well as education are equally represented

What do we get if we win?

You get the undying kudos of your sector and colleague and the right to look smug for at least a year.

Winners (and Commended entries) are presented with a certificate at a special awards ceremony held at the Museums Australia National Conference. This year’s ceremony will be at the Australian National Maritime Museum on Darling Harbour, Sydney, on 22 May, which also happens to be the night Sydney launches VIVID. You get front row seats to the light show AND a night of hobnobbing with friends old and new with the possibility of a shiny certificate to take home.

Don’t mix your MAGNAs with your MAPDAs

We know it can be a little confusing.

MAGNA is the Museums and Galleries National Awards. The MAGNAs also celebrate the pretty but focus primarily on innovation and excellence in exhibition, audience engagement and indigenous projects. MAGNA is stripy.

MAPDA is the Multimedia and Publication Design Awards. The MAPDAs celebrate the pretty with less emphasis in the actual content. The MAPDAs are Open for Entries until Monday 16 March. MAPDA is spotty.