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National Football Museum narrowly misses out on prestigious award
The National Football Museum has narrowly missed out on the prestigious Lever Prize 2008, which has been awarded to Tate Liverpool.
The Lever Prize is awarded annually by the North West Business Leadership Team, an independent group of experienced and influential business leaders committed to working collectively for the sustainable economic development and long term benefit of North West England.
The judges of the Lever Prize commented as follows on the application made by the National Football Museum :
“The National Football Museum was short listed for The Lever Prize 2008 and joint runner-up to the eventual winner, Tate Liverpool. The Lever Prize judges, who aim to reward ambitious cultural organisations based in North West England, noted the National Football Museum 's achievements to date in attracting visitors of all backgrounds and in explaining the role of football in society. They also noted the high regard in which the Museum is held internationally, particularly by FIFA who regard the Museum as 'best in class both in terms of quality and international outreach and engagement' ”.
The £10,000 cash award, given by the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) and supplemented by a similar level of support from Arts & Business North West (A&B NW), aims to bring business and culture closer together, and to revive the philanthropic traditions practised by successful industrialists of the past. The Lever Prize winner is judged by the NWBLT, made up of the leaders of 28 of the region's largest businesses, in partnership with Culture Northwest and A&B NW. The Lever Prize was inspired by William H. Lever (later Lord Leverhulme), the Bolton-born soap magnate famed for his grand-scale patronage of cultural organisations, as seen in the Lever Free Library and Museum in Bolton and the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Wirral.