The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMΣT) has won this year's European Museum Academy Art Museum Award, edging out a shortlist that included the Rijksmuseum and FENIX Museum of Migration in the Netherlands, Hastings Contemporary in the United Kingdom, Museum Gugging in Austria and the National Gallery of Slovenia. The award was conferred at a September 26 ceremony in Alicante, Spain, after the museum was shortlisted earlier in the month. The prize is granted each year to the museum or gallery that best addresses its role as a social institution, with judges visiting applicant institutions across Europe. Jury chair Samuel Gallacher said EMΣT stood out in a highly competitive field for its quality of production, originality of thought and what he called a heartfelt belief in making a positive impact across everything the museum does. The recognition caps a long journey for the institution. EMΣT began operations in 2000 and spent its first fifteen years moving between the Athens Concert Hall, the Athens School of Fine Arts, the Athens Conservatory and various public spaces, before moving into its permanent home — a converted former brewery — in 2015. Its programming has matched its civic ambition, with solo exhibitions for artists including Jannis Kounellis, Yang Fudong, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Tala Madani and Sammy Baloji, and an exhibition cycle asking What if Women Ruled the World? Its permanent collections weave Greece's sociopolitical struggles together with those of South Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, a curatorial approach the award has now singled out for continental recognition.