Town of Collierville
The Morton Museum of Collierville History was a recipient of several Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) awards at a recent conference held virtually on March 17.
The TAM Awards of Excellence were presented to museums across the state for exceptional projects, programs and events held during 2020.
Morton Museum Director Lydia Warren won an Emerging Museum Professional Award of Excellence, and became the Shelby County Representative for TAM.
Story Time reader Susan Sullivan won an Award of Excellence in Volunteerism for her two–per-Friday video Story Times on the museum’s Facebook page.
The museum won two awards for projects: one for their kid’s booklet “Make History!” and another for their 2020 social media campaign. Finally, Morton staff member Maureen Smith won a scholarship to attend the conference.
The purpose of the TAM Awards of Excellence program is to recognize, encourage, and promote excellence within the activities of the Tennessee museum community.
Nominations are made by museum staff and individuals, and sent in January to the regional representative.
Each entry is presented to the TAM Awards Committee, which is composed of the seven regional representatives, the committee chair, and three at-large members.
The committee makes the final judging and decisions of awards.
Awards are based on creativity, originality, resourcefulness, success, support of museum mission statement, and utilization of staff and volunteers.
Categories include permanent, temporary, blockbuster and traveling exhibits; educational programming; special events; publications; digital media; audio visual; special recognition; and volunteerism.
“This year we presented 85 awards, including three awards recognizing volunteer service, six awards recognizing Emerging Museum Professionals, and our overall winner of the Past President’s Award, chosen by past presidents of TAM,” stated Tori Mason, Interpretive Programs Manager at Nashville Zoo, who serves as the chair of the TAM Awards Committee.
“During a year like no other, Tennessee museums showed their creativity, resourcefulness, and ability to adapt to the times, while still providing outstanding programs and opportunities for their audiences. Our state is fortunate to have so many excellent museums and historic sites that are committed to providing exceptional exhibitions, events and educational programming for visitors to enjoy.”
