The Jury of the 2013 Children’s Museum Award met in Amsterdam on 8-9 February and now announces the names of the 15 confirmed candidates, which are listed below in alphabetical order of countries.

Austria
Salzburg: Spielzeug Museum
Canada
Winnipeg: Manitoba Children’s Museum
Germany
Berlin: MACHmit! Museum für Kinder Giessen: Mathematikum Giessen e.K. Hamburg: KINDEROLYMP at Altonaer Museum
Jordan
Amman: Children’s Museum Jordan
The Netherlands
Alphen aan den Rijn: Archeon, Roman Villa Rijswijk Assen: Drents Archief - Operatie Sigismund Hilversum: Beeld en Geluid Experience Rotterdam: Maritiem Museum Rotterdam Utrecht: Dick Bruna Huis, Centraal Museum
Serbia
Novi Sad: Gallery of Matica Srpska
Sweden
Stockholm: Lill-Skansen
Switzerland
Frauenfeld: Naturmuseum Thurgau Switzerland
United States
Frauenfeld: Naturmuseum Thurgau Philadelphia: Please Touch Museum

The name of the winner of the 2013 Award will be announced on Wednesday 27 March 2013 in co-operation with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and with the support of the Carisbo Bank Foundation – Genus Bononiae. On this occasion there will be a session on EU projects on lifelong learning, followed by a Round Table and a presentation of the finalists at the Fair, and a festive Ceremony at the Palazzo Pepoli in Bologna in the evening. The winner will receive the Award from the President of the Carisbo Foundation, Professor Fabio Roversi Monaco.

INFORMATION ON THE AWARD
The Children’s Museum Award has been established by the European Museum Academy and Hands On! International for the recognition of excellence in the specific sector of international children’s museums. The Jury is looking especially for the creative use of exhibitions and programmes with an innovative interpretative approach, which should be meaningful to the relevant age-group up to 14 years old.

An important background consideration is to investigate the ways in which a candidate is likely to change the course of museum thinking or museum practice in these respects, nationally and internationally. That is why special attention is given to imaginative interpretation and presentation .

An important background consideration is to investigate the ways in which a candidate is likely to change the course of museum thinking or museum practice in these respects, nationally and internationally. That is why special attention is given to imaginative interpretation and presentation .

INFORMATION ON THE EUROPEAN MUSEUM ACADEMY
EMA is a non-profit foundation established to reflect museums at the international level, to promote research on museography and museology as a high cultural activity, to provide constructive criticism and promote discussion on new exhibitions and museums, and to diffuse museological knowledge and ideas among members of the profession. It aims to promote the conception and development of new as well as of traditional museums as tools of social change. Thirty countries are currently represented within the EMA organisation. EMA co-operates with Hands On! International for this Award. EMA members of the Jury of the Award are also members of the EMA Pool of Experts. www.europeanmuseumacademy.eu .

INFORMATION ON HANDS ON! INTERNATIONAL
Hands On! International (HO!I), the Association of Children’s Museums, is the international professional organisation representing and advocating for its non-profit member institutions. It actively stimulates the creation and development of children’s museums (including science centres, large collections based institutions serving young visitors) and more space for cultural and educational activities for children and young people. HO!I supports the important role of children’s museums as centres where play inspires creativity, informal and lifelong learning. www.hands-on-international.net.

MEMBERS OF THE JURY, drawn from EMA and HO!I
- Arno van Berge Henegouwen, Curator, Museon, Den Haag, The Netherlands (EMA) Camila González Gou, Curator, Museu Frederic Marès, Barcelona, Spain (EMA)
- Claudia Haas, haas-consult, Vienna, Austria (HO!I)
- Gail Lord, Co-President, Lord Cultural Resources, Toronto, Canada (HO!I)
- Elisabeth Menasse, Director, ZOOM Kindermuseum, Vienna, Austria (HO!I)
- Andreja Rihter, President, European Museum Academy, Slovenia (EMA)
- Margherita Sani, Project Manager, Istituto Beni Culturali, Bologna, Italy (EMA) Hermann Schäfer, Founding President of the Foundation Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany (EMA)
- Nurit Shilo-Cohen, Emeritus Senior Curator, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel (HO!I)
- Petra Zwaka, Director, Jugend Museum Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany (chair of judges) (HO! I)