AHI Awards 2027
The AHI Awards celebrate excellence, creativity and achievement in heritage interpretation and visitor engagement across the UK and Ireland.
Entries open January 2027, full entry details coming soon. Explore the award categories below.
About the AHI Awards
Great interpretation helps people make connections, with places, stories, collections, communities, ideas and the world around them.
The AHI Awards celebrate the projects and people making those connections happen. They recognise inspiring interpretation and visitor engagement across heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental and social issues throughout the UK and Ireland.
From permanent exhibitions and outdoor experiences to temporary events, community partnerships, environmental action and intangible cultural heritage, the Awards reflect the many different ways interpreters engage audiences today.
The 2027 Awards introduce a refreshed range of categories reflecting the breadth of interpretation today, with entries opening in January 2027.
Why enter?
Entering the AHI Awards is an opportunity to showcase your work, celebrate the people behind it and share great interpretation with the wider sector.
Being shortlisted offers recognition for your project and team, while Award winners become part of AHI’s celebration of outstanding practice in interpretation and visitor engagement.
They also celebrate the people behind the work, recognising emerging talent and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of interpretation.
This year’s categories recognise permanent and temporary projects, indoor and outdoor experiences, community-led work, environmental action and intangible cultural heritage.
This year’s categories recognise permanent and temporary projects, indoor and outdoor experiences, community-led work, environmental action and intangible cultural heritage.
The 2027 Award categories
The 2027 project categories are:
Indoors
Outdoors
Temporary Indoor Event or Activity
Temporary Outdoor Event or Activity
Inspiring Environmental Action
Community Engagement
Intangible Cultural Heritage
Plus two nominated award categories
The AHI Award for Indoors
This category is for permanent or semi-permanent indoor projects that engage people inside, and provide interpretive visitor experiences in heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues.
Projects can be physical and/or digital or online indoor experiences and may be part of a wider visitor experience.
2025 Winner: Kilmartin Museum Redevelopment Project Permanent Exhibition. Kilmartin Museum Company LTD
The AHI Award for Outdoors
This category is for permanent or semi-permanent outdoor projects that engage people outside and provide interpretive visitor experience in heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues.
Projects can be physical and/or digital or online outdoor experiences and may be part of a wider visitor experience.
2025 Winner: Fully Dressed: Passenger Takeover. SS Great Britain Trust
The AHI Award for Temporary Indoor Event or Activity
This category is for indoor time-limited events that engage people with heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues. Events or activities can be physical and/or person-led and/or digital or online.
For example: pop-up exhibitions, costumed interpretation, guided tours, family activities, theatrical or musical experiences, short films, dance, light shows, self-guided digital experiences.
2025 Winner: Mystery at the Museum. Royal Armouries.
The AHI Award for Temporary Outdoor Event or Activity
This category is for outdoor time-limited events that engage people with heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues.
Events or activities can be physical and/or person-led and/or digital or online.
For example: pop-up exhibitions, festivals, costumed interpretation, guided walks, family activities, theatrical or musical experiences, short films, dance, light shows, self-guided digital experiences.
The AHI Award for Inspiring Environmental Action
This category is for projects that encourage people to think about our changing climate and environment and inspire positive action. This might include exploring the consequences of our personal choices, promoting more sustainable ways of living and working, highlighting local environmental issues, or encouraging people to consider their role and responsibilities in caring for the places and environments around us.
Projects may explore climate change, biodiversity, natural resources, materials, consumption or other environmental and sustainability issues. They may be temporary or permanent, on or off-site, indoors, outdoors and/or digital or online.
2025 Winner: Whales – Winchester Cathedral, Ghostfishing, Messums & University of Southampton, Tessa Campbell Fraser F.R.S.S
The AHI Award for Community Engagement
The category is for projects where the community takes the lead, or where organisations work in equal partnership with their communities to engage people in heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues. Community groups or organisations and their partner community groups will be directly involved in planning and delivering experiences for local people and/or visitors.
These experiences can be temporary or permanent, on of off-site, indoors, outdoors and/or digital or online. Communities may be defined by geography, special interest or shared experience.
2025 Winner: Spirit of Hogganfield Loch
Seven Lochs Wetland Park
The AHI Award for Intangible Cultural Heritage
This award was initiated by Michael Hamish Glen, who helped create AHI
This category is for projects that demonstrate the most engaging, inventive and inclusive use of intangible cultural heritage – broadly as defined by UNESCO as ‘the practices, knowledge, and expressions that communities recognise as part of their cultural identity, along with associated objects and spaces’.
For example, programmes or activities that effectively and successfully champion local language or oral traditions, performing arts, music or dance, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional craft skills to engage people with cultural heritage and contribute towards diversity.
2025 Winner: The Close, the New Forest Heritage Centre
The AHI Lara Clare Munden Award for Young Interpreter
This award is in memory of Lara Clare Munden, a talented young writer
We are looking for inspirational individuals between the ages of 18 and 25, who are at the beginning of their interpretation and visitor engagement career. We would like to recognise young people who have been actively involved in or have led a project that has helped to engage people with our heritage, nature, culture, science, environmental or social issues.
The Young Interpreter will receive two year’s membership of the AHI and a complimentary ticket to both the 2027 and 2028 AHI Conferences.
2025 Winner: Rosa Chalfen
Award supported by
AHI Outstanding Contribution to Interpretation Award
The AHI Award for Excellence in Interpretation is chosen by the Judging Panel from the project category winners.
We wish to celebrate individuals who have made an impact in our sector. They may have affected the way we think about, develop, deliver and evaluate interpretation and visitor engagement; conceived and delivered a piece of groundbreaking interpretive or visitor engagement work; and/or consistently demonstrated and shared best practice in the sector over a number of years.
2025 Winner: Aileen Peirce, Historic Royal Palaces
Category supported by:
How to enter
Entries open January 2027, full entry details coming soon.
Support the AHI Awards 2027
The AHI Awards offer organisations the opportunity to support and celebrate excellence in interpretation while connecting with professionals working across the heritage and visitor experience sector.
There are seven Award Category sponsorship opportunities available for 2027, each priced at £350. As an Award Category Sponsor, your organisation will receive:
- one complimentary ticket to the Awards gala dinner
- professional digital photographs of your representative with the category winner
- a digital insert in the delegate pack
- your logo on the Awards Conference category webpage
- your logo on the relevant Awards category slide
- social media sponsor shout-outs ahead of the Awards Conference
Interested in supporting the AHI Awards 2027?
Get in touch with AHI to discuss the available category sponsorship
Contact us