FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
CONTACT:
Ann Marie Walker, Marketing Manager
(815) 963-6769, ext. 2832
annmariew@discoverycentermuseum.org
USA TODAY names Discovery Center #5 in top 10 "Best Museums for Families"
ROCKFORD, Ill. –– Discovery Center Museum announced today that it earned 5th place in the USA Today/10Best.com Readers' Choice contest for "Best Museum for Families." The list of winners included not only children's museums, but history, natural history and science centers.
"We are very proud to be named the 5th Best Museum for Families by USA TODAY/10Best.com," explains Sarah Wolf, executive director of Discovery Center Museum. "We believe this kind of positive, national recognition will not only be advantageous for our museum, but for the City of Rockford as well. What is good for us, is good for the city. And we are very grateful to everyone who voted for us," added Wolf.
An expert panel selected Discovery Center Museum as a contender in this readers' choice award contest. Nominees for all categories are chosen by a panel of relevant experts which include a combination of editors from USA TODAY; editors from 10Best.com; relevant expert contributors and sources for both these media and other Gannett properties. The contest, which is being promoted by USA TODAY, gave readers four weeks to vote for the candidate of their choice. The winners were announced at 11:00 am today on 10Best.com and will be later in USA TODAY.
"USA TODAY is thrilled to have this method of sharing what 10Best and USA TODAY readers and users love most," said John Peters, president of USA TODAY Travel Media Group. While the 10Best Readers' Choice Travel Award contest lives on 10Best.com - a standalone travel media site - it is promoted across USA TODAY Travel Media Group's digital and mobile products, as well as via social media.
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Discovery Center shares the spotlight with the remaining top nine museums including the (1) Children's Museum of Indianapolis; (2) Children's Museum of Houston; (3) New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science; (4) Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix; (6) Explora! Children's Museum, Albuquerque; (7) National Museum of Play, Rochester, N.Y.; (8) Henry Ford Museum, Detroit; (9) Center of Science and Industry, Columbus, Ohio; and (10) the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
In 2013, Discovery Center served almost 140,000 visitors on site and another 72,000 through the museum's outreach programs. In 2002, Child magazine ranked Discovery Center 4th in the first-ever survey to identify the 10 best children's museums in the nation. Then in 2009, Discovery Center was included in the book, The Ten Best of Everything: Families in the category of children's museums. In January 2012 Discovery Center was named one of Forbes.com's "12 Best Children's Museums in the Nation."
10Best, Inc. is a division of USA Today. 10Best.com provides its users with unbiased travel advice through its consumer site 10Best.com on top attractions, things to do, and restaurants for top destinations in the US and around the world. The core of the site's power is its team of local experts, a well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields (and their cities) but discriminating in their tastes.
USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Through its unique visual storytelling, USA TODAY delivers high-quality and engaging content across print, digital, social and video platforms. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.6 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 6.6 million readers daily.
Discovery Center Museum is a non-profit children's science museum providing hands-on math, science and art experiences for all ages with over 250 hand-on exhibits, planetarium, special area for children under six, and an outdoor science park. Discovery Center is rated the #4 children's museum in the nation by Child magazine and one of the top 12 children's museums in the nation by Forbes.com. The Museum is located inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 North Main Street, Rockford, Ill. General admission to the Museum is: $8 adults, $8 children (ages 2 to 17) and free to Museum members and children age 1 and younger. Hours of operation are: 10 am to 5 pm seven days a week. For additional information, call (815) 963-6769 or log onto our website at www.discoverycentermuseum.org.
*** MEDIA USE ONLY ***
For additional information or to make media arrangements, please contact Ann Marie Walker, marketing manager, at (815) 963-6769, ext. 2832 between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., weekdays.
Discovery Center Museum is a non-profit children's science museum providing hands-on math, science and art experiences for all ages with over 250 hand-on exhibits, planetarium, special area for children under six, and an outdoor science park. Discovery Center is rated the #4 children's museum in the nation by Child magazine and one of the top 12 children's museums in the nation by Forbes.com. The Museum is located inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 North Main Street, Rockford, Ill. General admission to the Museum is: $8 adults, $8 children (ages 2 to 17) and free to Museum members and children age 1 and younger. Hours of operation are: 10 am to 5 pm seven days a week. For additional information, call (815) 963-6769 or log onto our website at www.discoverycentermuseum.org.