The museum is due to reopen in September 2004

Rotherham's Clifton Park Museum has narrowly missed out on a new arts award - and a �100,000 prize.

The collection's Communities and Memories exhibition was short listed for the first Gulbenkian Prize.

Actress Joanne Lumley was on the judging panel and made the trip to South Yorkshire earlier this month.

But the prize, which was announced on Thursday, was awarded to Nottingham's National Centre for Citizenship and the Law.

Outreach work

Clifton Park Museum is closed until September 2004 for extensive redevelopment work.

But it has already been recognised as an outreach project focusing on local family history where people were encouraged to produce their own exhibitions and oral archives.

The Gulbenkian Prize is designed to reward each year's most innovative and inspiring idea in its sector - be it an exhibition, new gallery, public programme or important new initiative - developed in a UK museum or gallery.

A BBC team has been following the judges all over Britain and a half-hour programme will be broadcast on BBC FOUR on Thursday 17 April at 2030 GMT.