Delta Blues Press Release

November 19, 2020

DELTA BLUES MUSEUM NAMED AS FINALIST FOR INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AWARD

Clarksdale, Mississippi

British Guild of Travel Writers Recognizes Museum for Muddy Waters Virtual Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Clarksdale, Mississippi - November 19, 2020] - Delta Blues Museum has been shortlisted by the British Guild of Travel Writers for 'The Armchair Award' for its Muddy Waters Virtual Tour in the 2020 BGTW International Tourism Awards. The award recognizes tourism organizations, destinations and visitor attractions that have introduced a new virtual tour as a direct result of the pandemic. It is one of four award categories that recognize tourism projects in the UK and around the world.

During October 2020, the nominated tourism projects and initiatives were voted on by members of the BGTW. The Museum was nominated by travel writer and BGTW member Mary Moore Mason, editor of UK-based "Essentially America" magazine. In her nomination, Mason says: "As soon as lockdown started, this award-winning Museum devoted to the rich musical legacy of the Mississippi Delta commissioned a special video from local filmmaker Joe York. Now online, it succeeds in making you want to visit this regional seedbed of the Blues - and the state's oldest music museum - by taking you on a tour of the life and pioneering achievements of local, self-taught bottleneck slide guitarist and Blues legend McKinley Morganfield, best known as Muddy Waters. Impressively using vocal narrative, background music and evocative black and white photos, it takes you from Muddy's early days as a descendant of slaves on a local cotton plantation to his role as the Father of Chicago Blues and the inspiration for the Rock 'n' Roll music of the likes of Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones."

Simon Willmore, BGTW chairman, says: "Each year our members nominate tourism projects and initiatives that they have visited and feel deserve wider notice. This year, in light of the hiatus caused by the global pandemic, we introduced this new award to recognize the creative and technical excellence that has allowed the public to visit online."

The winners of the BGTW International Tourism Awards are due to be announced on 21 March 2021 at The Savoy in central London. Delta Blues Museum's new virtual tours are free to the public and accessible online via our website.

The Museum's virtual tours are supported in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

About the British Guild of Travel Writers
The British Guild of Travel Writers is a community of more than 250 accredited writers, photographers, bloggers and broadcasters. It is the trusted body for independent editorial comment and expert content on worldwide travel. For more information about the tourism initiative, contact awards director Stuart Render via email at stuart.render@bgtw.org.

About the Delta Blues Museum
Established in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and re-organized as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues Museum is Mississippi's first music museum. A 2013 recipient of the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Services - the nation's highest honor for museum and library service to the community - and a 2014 recipient of the National Arts & Humanities' Youth Program Award, the Delta Blues Museum is dedicated to creating a welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value and perspective by exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical art form, the Blues. The Museum is also recognized as a Great River Road Interpretive Center. For more information on events or programs, please call (662) 627-6820, or visit the Museum web site at www.deltabluesmuseum.org.

Members of the press may register in the Press Room on the Museum's website to access further information, downloadable images and related materials.

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This newsletter is supported in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and, in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

This site is made possible through support from the Mississippi Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Rock River Foundation.