Dated: 28/04/2010

York Castle Prison wins top tourism award

The launch of York Castle Prison has earned York Museums Trust a top tourism award.

The Trust won Marketing Campaign of the Year at the 2010 Visit York Awards, beating off tough competition from attractions and hotels across York and North Yorkshire.

York Castle Prison opened as a new attraction within York Castle Museum in July 2009.

The marketing campaign included:

Commissioning a photofit image of infamous prisoner Dick Turpin which was featured in the national press and the BBC's One Show;

Distributing specially designed Dick Turpin masks at the museum and at outside shows and events;

Creating a dedicated website, www.yorkcastleprison.org.uk

A comprehensive advertising campaign including bus advertising, banners, leaflets and a TV advert.

Visitor figures for the first six weeks of opening were up 16 per cent on the previous year, and for the period from mid-July until December 2009 were up 13 per cent on the previous year.

The Observer newspaper said: "Explore the dark, dank cells of the York Castle Museum. Visitors will get a sense of what imprisonment would have been like in an 18th-and 19th-century gaol, meeting characters -based on real prisoners - displayed through audio visual exhibits, including its most infamous inmate, highwayman Dick Turpin."