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The Story Museum receives J.M Barrie Award for Outstanding Achievement
The Story Museum in Oxford is delighted to have received the J.M. Barrie Award for Outstanding Achievement for its contribution to children’s Arts.
Conrad Bodman, The Story Museum’s recently appointed CEO says: ‘We are honoured to have received this award on behalf of the communities we serve in recognition of our work to highlight the transformative power of stories and their impact on the lives of young people.'
‘We are especially delighted to have be among such highly accomplished recipients of J.M. Barrie Awards, and we extend our congratulations to Dame Dr Maggie Aderin- Pocock PhD, who has received The Education Award, and Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who have jointly been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.’
The Story Museum is a charity on a mission to enrich lives, especially young lives, through stories, through its lively participation and learning programme. The award-winning Galleries take visitors on a journey through story-telling wonders; from ancient tales shared around a camp-fire in the Whispering Wood, to an Enchanted Library where you’ll fall down a rabbit hole, or enter Narnia, before coming face to face with dragons in the Treasure Chamber, the Museum’s temporary exhibition space, which this year plays host to ‘Here Be Dragons…Co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless.’
In the summer of 2025, The Story Museum revealed a new permanent gallery, The Story Arcade, which celebrates and explores the digital realm with storytelling in video games.
The J.M. Barrie Awards are convened by Action for Children’s Arts and are an annual celebration of people and organisations doing outstanding work within children’s arts.
This year’s awards are to be held on 6th November in the Delfont Room at Prince of Wales Theatre in London, with the focus on three themes: early years, the power of stories and the marriage of arts and sciences that use the imagination.
Representing The Story Museum at the awards will be Kim Pickin, emeritus founder and director of The Story Museum; Tish Francis, emeritus director, Caroline Jones, director of The Story Museum 2018- 2025, and The Story Museum’s new director and CEO, Conrad Bodman.
Best-selling author Cressida Cowell, who has co-curated ‘Here Be Dragons’ exhibition at the Museum says ‘Congratulations to The Story Museum, which is a truly worthy recipient of this award. The Story Museum team create immersive and truly fun exhibitions and make them accessible to tens of thousands of children, families and schools. They do so with imagination, commitment, and a real understanding of what’s exciting for the audience. This is absolutely vital work given the current crisis in children’s reading, and we should be applauding their brilliant ability to be a cultural hub for celebration of children’s books.’
Founder and Ambassador of Action for Children’s Arts Vicky Ireland MBE says: "At a time when so many children are starved of art, and Britain is losing its cultural future, it is our huge honour to recognise the contribution of wonderful artists for children, through our unique J.M. Barrie Awards. And it is with huge pride that we honour this year’s winners – outstanding artists whose inspirational work proves the transformative power of the arts and cultural education, in nurturing artistry, imagination, compassion and empathy in the lives of our nation’s children.’"