The National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL) has been named as the winner of the first Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries.

The prize is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which has guaranteed prize money of £100,000 for the next five years.The NCCL - housed in the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham - is based in a Victorian courthouse and 18th century prison and educates children about citizenship and the criminal justice system. Real cases are re-enacted in the courtroom.

A key part of the museum's programme is a series of crime reduction classes for young offenders and those at risk of offending.The Gulbenkian judges - in an awards ceremony chaired by Bamber Gascoigne at the recently opened Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey - described the experience of visiting the museum as both chilling and inspirational.

In addition to a cheque for £100,000, the Centre received an enamelled silver bowl designed by award-winning metalwork artist, Vladimir Böhm.Other museums on the shortlist were the Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham, for its Collections, Communities and Memories exhibition; Discovery Point, Dundee, for the RRS Discovery Renewal Programme and the Natural History Museum, London, for The Darwin Centre Phase One. Details: www.gulbenkian.org.uk