The Folio in its library setting. Credit: Durham University

The restoration project of a 400-year-old first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays which was stolen from Durham University is among contenders in an international awards shortlist.

The Museums + Heritage Awards celebrate the best across museums, galleries, and cultural and heritage visitor attractions and the ceremony to reveal the winners will take place on May 13 in London.

Durham University has been shortlisted in the Restoration/Conservation category for its Durham Shakespeare First Folio project.

Beamish Museum and Bowes Museum are also shortlisted for Learning Programme of the Year and Community Engagement, respectively.

An exhibition based on the theft in 1998 and subsequent conservation of the 400-year-old First Folio opened last year at Palace Green Library in Durham and, due to demand, has been extended until April 6.

The exhibition tells the story of how it was stolen from Durham University’s Cosin’s Library, on Palace Green in Durham City while on display, damaged, taken to the United States for sale, recovered and returned in 2010 and finally restored.

The Shakespeare folio on display. Credit: Durham Univerisity

The First Folio, published in 1623, was the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Among the 36 plays included are 18, such as Anthony and Cleopatra, Macbeth and The Tempest, that had not previously been published.

Without the First Folio, these works may well have been lost to history.

Stuart Hunt, director of University library, said: “Shakespeare’s First Folio is a literary wonder of the world, but only Durham’s First Folio can tell such a unique and powerful story. Having been at the centre of an international theft and recovery, Durham’s First Folio is truly exceptional.”

The Shakespeare Recovered exhibition has been recognised by the Institute of Conservation, which awarded Durham University the Heritage Conservation in Action prize 2025.

Bowes Museum’s nod for the Community Engagement award came for its project Unheard Voices, which introduced literacy lessons at HMP Deerbolt in County Durham, inspired by the museum’s Kith and Kinship: Norman Cornish and L. S. Lowry exhibition.

Norman Cornish, Dog Talk, 151. Private Collection, © Norman Cornish Ltd. Part of the Kith and Kinship exhibition at The Bowes Museum

Deerbolt is a prison and young offender institution for men aged 18 and over. The initiative aimed to inspire the learners and enhance their skills, using creativity as a tool to overcome barriers and challenges they have faced within traditional educational settings.

The project was delivered through workshops to learners aged 18–25. As the learners developed their confidence, they discussed the artwork from the exhibition and themes such as community, brotherhood and chosen family.

Beamish Museum has been shortlisted in the Learning Programme of the Year category for innovative work through its SEND (special educational needs and disability) placement project and alternative provision for school students.

Beamish’s SEND placement project has been recognised

The Beamish project has involved offering work placements to young people with special educational needs and disabilities, those who attend alternative provision schools or are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Supported by funding from the North East Combined Authority, 144 young people who would not usually be presented with career enhancing opportunities discovered the range of jobs at the museum and the skills required for different roles.

County Durham peppers shortlist for…