Congratulations, 2019 OMA Award Winners!
The Ohio Museums Association has announced the winners of the 2019 OMA Awards of Achievement and 2019 Visual Communication Awards. These winners will be recognized during the Annual OMA Awards Program Ceremony, which will take place Sunday, June 21 at 7 p.m., as the kick-off event for the 2020 Ohio Museums Association Virtual Conference.
The OMA Awards program is an annual celebration of the outstanding achievement of Ohio museums in visual communications, individual and institutional achievement, and the tireless work museum professionals undertake to help advance Ohio’s museum community both locally, and on a national level.
The Awards of Achievement are divided into two categories: Institutional Achievement Awards and Individual Achievement Awards.
Nominations for these awards are incredibly detailed. This in-depth process helps to illustrate how these institutions and individuals have gone “above and beyond” the normal call of duty to support their institution, serve their public and advance the cause of the museum community.
The 2019 Award of Achievement winners are:
Best Exhibition (Under $500,000)
Wood County Historical Center—“For Comfort and Convenience: Public Charity in Ohio By Way of the Poor Farm”
Best Exhibition (Over $500,000)
Cleveland Museum of Natural History—“Fossil Hunters: The Search for Our Past”
Best Exhibition Catalog (Over $500,000)
Toledo Museum of Art— “Life is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture”
Best Community Partnership (Under $500,000)
Little Buckeye Children's Museum—“Imagination District”
Best Community Partnership (Over $500,000)
COSI – Center of Science and Industry—“2019 COSI Science Festival”
Best Education and Outreach (Under $500,000)
Columbus Jewish Historical Society—“Letters Home, 1918”
Best Education and Outreach (Over $500,000)
Taft Museum of Art—“Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program”
Emerging Professional of the Year
Maria Iafelice—Toledo Museum of Art
Betty Bryan Volunteer of the Year
Sharon Hershey —Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
Professional of the Year
Christopher Kenney—McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
Institution of the Year
Massillon Museum—MMx2: Massillon Museum Expansion Project
The OMA Visual Communication awards recognize creative excellence in printed and digital materials produced and distributed by Ohio museums. This year’s awards are based on materials produced or distributed during the 2019 calendar year.
The 2019 Visual Communication winners are:
Budget Level 2
Gold Award: Impact Communications – “Discover Chagrin Falls History”
Silver Award: Cincinnati Skirball Museum – “Jewish Cincinnati: A Walk Through History”
Honorable Mention: Fairfield County Heritage Association – “Heritage Quarterly, Vol 42 No. 2”
Budget Level 3
Gold Award: Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery - “Weston Art Gallery Season Brochure 2019-2020”
Silver Award: Little Buckeye Children’s Museum - “Little Buckeye Brochure"
Budget Level 4
Gold Award: National Museum of the Great Lakes - “2019 Annual Fund Campaign”
Silver Award: National Museum of the Great Lakes - “Lake Ontario Shipwrecks: A Journey of Discovery, by Jim Kennard”
Budget Level 5
Gold Award: Dayton Art Institute - “Dayton Art Institute Rebrand”
Silver Award: Aullwood Audubon Center & Farm - “Aullwood Audubon Quarterly Newsletter January-March 2020 Issue”
Honorable Mention: Taft Museum of Art - “L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters suite of exhibition materials”
Budget Level 6
Gold Award: Cincinnati Art Museum - “1881, Issue 15 (Winter 2019-2020 Cincinnati Art Museum’s Member Magazine”
Silver Award: Cleveland Museum of Art - “Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art”
Honorable Mention: Cleveland Museum of Art - “PROOF Invitation”
BEST IN SHOW
Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery - “Weston Art Gallery Season Brochure 2019-2020”
Do you have a amazing visual communications pieces at your museum? Is the new program/exhibit/partnership you launched this year a big hit? Have a colleague that goes above and beyond to make Ohio museums better? Don't miss your chance to be recognized!
More information on the 2020 OMA Annual Awards Program will be released soon - learn more about the OMA awards program and get full nomination details as they become available on the Awards page.
Congratulations again to all of the 2019 OMA Award winners. We look forward to recognizing your museum at next year's Awards Ceremony as part of the 2021 OMA Annual Conference!