AAM is proud to announce the 2008 Brooking Paper winners. The first-prize paper will be published in the May/June 2008 issue of Museum magazine, and the author will receive $1,000 plus $500 toward travel expenses to the 2008 AAM Annual Meeting in Denver, April 27–May 1, where the writers will be honored at a luncheon.

AAM's Brooking Paper Competition on Creativity in Museums recognizes innovative accomplishments that produce new ways of thinking and seeing within the museum field. Papers can describe examples of creativity in any aspect of museum operations, from collections, programs and exhibitions to finance, community relations and administration—or anything in between. Museum professionals and volunteers worldwide are eligible to enter.

Funding for the competition was provided by Dolores Brooking, retired professor of arts administration at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and former director of education at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. The judges were Ann A. Fortescue, director of education and visitor services, Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center; Dan Freas, museum experience director, Conner Prairie, Fishers, Ind.; and Leah Arroyo, senior editor, Museum magazine.

First-Prize Winner:

• Susan Glasser, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh: "The Forgotten Audience"

Honorable Mentions:

• Amy B. Baldonieri with Judith H. O'Toole, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pa.: "Little Museum, Big Ideas"
• John Anderson, Susan Thompson and Amanda Trainor; New England Aquarium, Boston: "Same Exhibits, New Eyes"

Review past winners' submissions below.

• First Prize:Amy E. Herman, Frick Collection, New York: "The Art of Observation: How the Long Arm of the Law Is Reaching the Frick Collection"
• Honorable Mention: Jessica Bicknell and Sonal Bhatt, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo, New York: "The Eco-Restroom: Inspiring Visitors to Think When They Flush"
• Honorable Mention: David M. Tanner, Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington: "Innovation and Teamwork: A Modest Ticketing Project Yields Accurate Attendance Figures"

• First Prize: Maggie Russell-Ciardi, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York: "Immigrant Voices: A New Language for Museums"
• Honorable Mention: Benjamin Filene, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul: "Small Stories in the Big Picture—Open House: If These Walls Could Talk"
• Honorable Mention: Heather DeGaetano, Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga: "A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Collaboration Among Museums in Chattanooga"

2005

• First Prize: Marcia Semmes, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore: "Vital Visionaries: The Museum Cure"
• Honorable Mention: Burt Logan, U.S.S. Constitution Museum, Boston: "Rethinking Admission Fees: How a Museum Freed Itself"
  
• Honorable Mention: Susan M. Glasser, Boyden Gallery of Art, St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, Md.: "A Different Kind of Visitor Study"