Dear Members,

The session of the Milan Conference devoted to the Best Practice projects allowed a common reflection on “Education and mediation tools”. One of the main goals was thus fulfilled, opening to professional cooperation on the main aspects of the programme development. This encouraged the Board to launch the sixth edition of the Best Practice Award. There are many reasons for doing so, that I would like to list once again:

·  build a common language among CECA members all around the world, so that it will be easier to exchange experiences;

·  launch a large and international bottom-up discussion about the document, so that it can be improved;

·  make the programmes implemented in different parts of the world more easily comparable, so that CECA members can imply ideas from elsewhere in their own work;

·  at every annual conference, discuss programmes designed and implemented according to the common model of the Best Practice document;

·  spread programmes presented by members among the museum community both inside and outside CECA, so that they can serve as sources of inspiration for others.

This year, five programmes will be awarded conference fee and 400,00 euros as a contribution to the accommodation costs for the 2017 CECA annual conference (London, October 2017) . Please note that travel expenses will not be paid by CECA. As in the former edition, these programmes will also be published. But publication will be ensured to other valuable programmes as well. Therefore, a maximum of 15 more programmes (20 in total) will be included in Best Practice 6. A tool to improve museum education internationally.

The programmes will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Aspect / Score
Response to the Best Practice document / Max. 100
Conceiving and planning of the programme (max 60), in particular: objectives (max 10), pertinence (max 20), resources (max 5), collaborations (max 5), contents (max 10), mediation tools (max 10).
Carrying out the programme (max 20), in particular: planning (max 5), implementation (max 5), adaptation (max 10).
Study, evaluation and remedial process (max 20), in particular: accompanying studies (max 5), studies for the evaluation of the results (max 10), remediation (max 5).
TOTAL / Max. 100

The award is exclusively addressed to CECA members (except Board members) and may be considered as an added value to participation in the Committee. In order to participate, applicants must fill in the application form following the guidelines and send it exclusively to by May 2nd, 2017.

No application will be accepted after the deadline. Similarly, applications that do not meet the criteria will be refused.

An international jury will be led by Marie-Clarté O’Neill, ICOM/CECA Best Practice delegate and made of previous awardees and distinguished professionals in the field of museum education and cultural action. It is established in order to read the programmes and score them. Each programme will undergo a double review. The following table shows all the deadlines.

Members send application form / Before May 2nd 2017
The international jury scores the programmes / May 5th-12th 2017
The international jury meets in Paris / May 13th-15th 2017
The international jury publishes the results / May 18th 2017
Selected members send full article / July 1rst 2017
The winners send a copy of their flight tickets / July 1rst 2017

This sixth edition of the CECA Award has been improved taking into account hints and suggestions from the successive jury members. I really hope that many of you will react to the initiative and, as for the past editions, that lots of proposals will be submitted.

Let me now thank you all for your attention. All the best and good luck for the award!

Mila Milene Chiovatto

ICOM - CECA President