Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts Program

Honorees will be recognized at the 2026 Virginia Association of Museums Annual Conference. 

About the Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program

Museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, and other collecting organizations in Virginia and Washington, DC are invited to submit endangered artifacts that share the stories, accomplishments, and struggles of the Commonwealth’s history and culture for consideration of selection as an honoree of the 2026 Top 10 Program. VAM’s Top Ten Endangered Artifacts Program has been nationally recognized and replicated by other states while helping more than 200 organizations. The annual top ten list creates a greater awareness of the important and diverse stories told through these rare treasures. 

In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary and in line with the 2026 VAM annual conference theme of “Little ‘r’ Revolutions: Museum Transformations for Everyone”. Museums, like revolutions, hold the promise of change. The 2026 conference will celebrate how small ‘r’ revolutions help build and empower resiliency and transformation across VAM's extensive network of cultural institutions. If selected, the organization agrees to compete in the online crowd sourced voting competition and plan on attending the 2026 Annual Conference in Williamsburg, VA (March 15-17). 

This year's program is proudly supported by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) in partnership with VAM. The generous support from the VMHC allows VAM the opportunity to more meaningfully support member institutions and their submitted, endangered artifacts for conservation. 

The following grant awards will be announced at the VAM 2026 conference. 

• Juried Award (Reviewed by museum practitioner committee) - $1500.00 
• People's Choice Award - $1500.00 
• The remaining eight nominees will be awarded $500.00 each  

Limit to one artifact nomination per organization. Nominations close on September 15, 2025. For questions, please reach out to membership@vamuseums.org

Instructions

• Nominations are open from August 6, 2025 to September 15, 2025. 
• Applications, photographs, support materials, and other media will be used for administration, review, press and promotional purposes, and will be afterward archived at the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM).  Recipients agree to allow VAM to provide updates to the membership via email, website, and social media regarding the status of the object to include any pictures provided.
• Selected Honorees will be required to complete an Awards Agreement and Awards Progress Report.
• Failure to follow these guidelines will result in disqualification from future program participation.
• Questions? Please contact the Virginia Association of Museums at membership@vamuseums.org. 
  
  

Review & Award Process

• Nomination forms will be reviewed by a volunteer independent Selection Committee comprised of representatives from partner organizations, including the Library of Virginia, Preservation Virginia, Virginia Conservation Association, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and private conservators.
• Through a thorough review process by the independent Selection Committee, ten (10) organizations and their artifacts will be chosen for inclusion in the “Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts” program. 
• The selected ten artifacts will be announced at a reception on October 30, 2025 at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 6pm - 7:30pm. 
• The selected ten artifacts, and their nominating organizations, will be featured in an online public voting competition.
• All Top 10 Honorees will be recognized at the 2026 VAM Annual Conference in Williamsburg, March 14 - 17, 2026.

Eligibility

• Nominating organization must be located in the Commonwealth of Virginia or District of Columbia.
• Nominating organization must be an institutional member in good standing of the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM). *Participation is a member benefit. 
• Nominated artifacts must be of historic or cultural significance to the nominating organization. VAM highly encourages diversity in nominations to help highlight achievements that may otherwise go unnoticed and allows for a more accurate reflection of our society. It fosters creativity, innovation, and progress, encouraging individuals from all walks of life.
• Objects on loan are not eligible.
• Structures and land are not eligible. (Learn more about Preservation Virginia's Most Endangered Historic Sites.)
• Nominees receiving any award must have the artifact assessed (if not done so previously) and provide a progress report of the conservation/preservation project to VAM by December 31, 2026.
• Artifacts selected as a Top 10 Endangered Artifact Honoree cannot be nominated again.
• Institutions represented on the Selection Committee are not eligible to apply.
• Items that have won one of the two top prizes (People's Choice or Juried Award) in the past are not eligible for resubmission.
• Items that have been included in the Top 10 but NOT received one of the two top prizes are eligible for resubmission after three years if still endangered.
• Items that have been nominated in the past but which have NOT been selected for inclusion in the Top 10 voting are eligible for resubmission. 

Submit a Nomination!

E-mail membership@vamuseums.org for questions or a downloadable pdf form

Contribute and protect endangered artifacts!

The work always continues and so we encourage you to give a donation to show your support. Your gift will support significant, endangered artifacts at museums, libraries and archives throughout the Commonwealth and DC.

Your contribution will help bring attention to the unique artifacts in museum collections across the state and help conserve important pieces of Virginia history.