The Media and Technology Committee of the American Association of Museums recently honored the COLUMBIAKids Web site with a silver MUSE award in the category of “Community.” This category recognizes Web sites moderated and hosted by a museum that offer a virtual space for people to gather around a common experience, exhibit or interest, the way a bricks and mortar museum does. COLUMBIAKids is a sister publication to the Washington State Historical Society’s print journal COLUMBIA: The Magazine of Northwest History.
COLUMBIAKids, now in its second year, is a free online magazine that features interesting and informative articles and stories based in Pacific Northwest history. The target readers are children up to age 14 who live in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.
The site was commended by MUSE judges for its use of children’s authors and illustrators, which makes the site more appealing to young readers, and its usefulness for teachers. The jurors especially liked the “CollectionConundrum,” which teaches children how to look at objects, and the “podPuzzle,” which presents real mysteries from the past in listener theatre style.
The MUSE award competition, now in its 21st year, recognizes excellence in media produced by or for museums. The 2010 MUSE award competition received over 200 applications from museums worldwide. Forty-two winners were named. Seventy-three judges – museum and media professionals from across the world – selected the winners.
