Visit England Awards for Excellence 2012
Business Tourism Award Finalist
The awards recognise businesses that incorporate best practice throughout their operation and also celebrate the very best quality and innovation, helping to raise standards across the industry and secure England’s place as a world-class holiday destination.
Find out more at visitengland.org

Yorkshire Society Awards 2011
At an awards ceremony on 7 November, YSP's Executive Director Peter Murray CBE will be awarded the Yorkshire Society's first ever award for Art & Culture.
Find out more at yorkshiresociety.org.uk

Welcome to Yorkshire
White Rose Awards 2011
YSP has won the prestigious Business Tourism Award at the 2011 Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards. The judging panel praised YSP for its ‘unique combination of sculpture and tailored event management’, which helped it beat off tough competition from industry heavyweights in a strong category including Magna Science Adventure Centre, Sheffield International Venues, Harewood House, Weetwood Hall and Conference Centre, and the Royal Armouries.

The annual White Rose Awards are Yorkshire's biggest and most spectacular tourism awards, intended to recognise and celebrate the best of the regions tourism industry. The award for Business Tourism recognises excellence in conferencing and corporate hospitality.

Yorkshire's Most Magnificent Attraction 2011
After weeks of public voting, Yorkshire Sculpture Park was named Yorkshire’s ‘Most Magnificent Attraction’, beating over 100 other popular Yorkshire venues to this prestigious accolade.

Over 4,000 people voted for their favourite Yorkshire venue at yorkshireattractions.org, with YSP beating Yorkshire Wildlife Park into second place, followed - in order - by the National Media Museum (NMM), The Deep and Newby Hall and Gardens. All of the top five venues are members of the Yorkshire Attractions Group, and overall voting was dominated by the 21 venues that make up the membership of that group.

South Bank Show Award, 2008
In 2008 our major Andy Goldsworthy exhibition won the Visual Arts Award in the prestigious South Bank Show Awards.

This stunning YSP exhibition was selected from a shortlist reflecting the range of talent among artists working in Britain today; nominees included Mark Wallinger for State Britain at Tate Britain, and David Adjaye for Rivington Place.

This accolade celebrates a remarkable exhibition which mesmerised the hundreds of thousands of visitors from its opening in March 2007 to its closure in January 2008. The memorable project, which was sited throughout YSP’s 500 acres of historic landscape, was the culmination of a 20 year relationship with Andy Goldsworthy and a fitting tribute to Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s 30th anniversary.

The exhibition, which was generously supported by Roger Evans and the Henry Moore Foundation, also resulted in the acquisition of three permanent site specific works: Shadow Stone Fold, Hanging Trees, and Outclosure.

Peter Murray, Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Executive Director, commented:
"We are delighted that the Andy Goldsworthy exhibition, which is one of our most ambitious projects to date, has won the prestigious South Bank Show Awards for the Visual Arts.

This is a richly deserved award for such an important British artist and recognises the hard work and commitment of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park staff."

Tracy Emin made the presentation to Andy Goldsworthy at an awards ceremony in the Dorchester Hotel, London. The twelfth annual South Bank Show Awards will be televised on ITV on Sunday 3 February, hosted by Melvyn Bragg.

Gulbenkian Prize finalist, 2006
"The new gallery is a superb addition to this much loved venue, recognised as one of the best sites in the world to see contemporary sculpture in the open air and in a sumptuous landscape. It has been elegantly incorporated into an 18th century garden; imaginative, witty and wholly modern, yet respectful of the atmosphere and ambience of its setting. Its potential to expand the range of media that the sculpture park can present was exemplified by the stunning, literally mind blowing, James Turrell light installations on show during the judges visit. The vision of making art accessible to all shines through the whole organisation."
Lord Winston, Chairman of Judges
25 May 2006

The purpose of the Gulbenkian Prize is to recognise and stimulate originality, imagination and excellence in museums and galleries in the UK, and increase public appreciation and enjoyment of all they have to offer.

It acknowledges a track record of imagination, innovation and excellence through work mainly undertaken during the previous calendar year.

The Underground Gallery was commissioned in April 2003 and completed in December 2004 at a cost of £2.75 million. With over 600 square metres of space and three large galleries, it is one of the largest purpose-built galleries to have been constructed in Britain for a number of years, and was designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley architects to fit sensitively with the historic landscape of the Sculpture Park. The Underground Gallery has enabled YSP to build on its worldwide reputation and extend the scope and range of media it can show. Examples of this include the William Turnbull retrospective (May - Oct 2005) and the James Turrell light installations (Nov 2005-Jan 2007).

Executive Director, Peter Murray commented, "It is a great honour to be considered for this year's Gulbenkian Prize. For the last 29 years, we have used the landscape to site a range of fascinating exhibitions creating a leading sculpture park and one of the largest, most important centres for contemporary art worldwide. We work very hard to promote wider public appreciation and enjoyment of art and our new underground gallery has certainly captured the imagination, winning the support and enthusiasm of visitors and artists."