The six museums shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015 were announced today, April 25, according to Art Daily.

They are (in alphabetical order):

Dunham Massey (National Trust), Altrincham • IWM London • The MAC, Belfast • Oxford University Museum of Natural History • HM Tower of London (Historic Royal Palaces) • The Whitworth, Manchester

The Museum of the Year annually surveys museums and galleries across the UK, awarding one outstanding winner a prize of £100,000. Previous winners have been diverse in scale - from the British Museum (2011) to Walthamstow’s William Morris Gallery (2013). Last year’s winner was the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, an outdoor museum cited for its “perfect fusion of art and landscape” and its major projects with artists such as Yinka Shonibare MBE and Ai Weiwei.

Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said today: “This is by any measure an exciting and diverse shortlist, showing great heights of creativity and ambition. Despite a difficult environment of funding cuts, UK museums continue to be inventive, surprising and exhilarating.”

The announcement of the 2015 winner will be made at an awards dinner at Tate Modern on Wednesday 1 July 2015. The event will follow the Museum of the Year Debate, also taking place at Tate Modern.