Press Release

HNOC Receives Eight Southeastern Museums Conference Awards

October 3, 2025

Exhibitions “Captive State,” “Unknown Sitters,” “Making It Home” and HNOC’s website redesign took top honors.

Museum visitors watch A Deliberate Retreat: New Orleans’s Shifting Jails in HNOC's Captive State exhibition.

Museum visitors watch A Deliberate Retreat: New Orleans’s Shifting Jails in Captive State. Photo by Melissa Carrier, HNOC

New Orleans(October 10, 2025)—The Historic New Orleans Collection is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of eight 2025 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Awards: six Technology Awards and two Exhibition Awards. The SEMC Awards highlight excellence in the museum industry and establishes standards for exhibition initiatives across southeastern Louisiana.

“Receiving eight awards from the Southeastern Museums Conference is a tremendous honor and a testament to the impactful work being done by our staff every day,” said HNOC President and CEO Daniel Hammer. “I want to extend my deepest, most sincere thanks to the many individuals across the institution whose collaborative spirit and rigorous efforts made these distinctions possible.”

Views of Captive State. Photos by Amber Johnson, HNOC

Unknown Sitters exhibition. Photo by Keely Merritt, HNOC

For many visitors, exhibitions are the public face of museums, and effective planning, management of resources, research and interpretation, collections care, public programs, publications, and fundraising all contribute to the fulfillment of a museum's mission. The Exhibition Competition recognizes exhibitions for overall excellence or for stretching the limits of content and design through innovation. Winning entries are well-designed exhibitions of merit with educational value and demonstrated, respectful treatment of objects. Recipients of the awards are judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in curatorial studies and exhibition design.

HNOC received the following Exhibition Awards:

Gold Award for Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
Silver Award for Unknown Sitters

Museum visitors watch A Deliberate Retreat: New Orleans’s Shifting Jails in Captive State. Photo by Melissa Carrier, HNOC

View of In Their Words: Captive State Incarceration Testimonials installation in Captive State. Photo by Keely Merritt, HNOC

Making It Home Lantern Video Projection. Photo by Amber Johnson, HNOC

The Oral History Table in Making It Home. Photo by Tere Kirkland, HNOC

As technology continues to gain importance throughout the museum field, expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s Technology Award applicants. Winning entries demonstrate innovation, effective design, accessibility, creativity and recognition of institutional identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in the fields of digital media and technology.

HNOC received the following Technology Awards:

Gold Award in the Gallery Installation category for the Making It Home Oral History Table
Gold Award in the Media Production category for the Making It Home Lantern Video Projection
Gold Award in the Digital Marketing category for the hnoc.org website redesign
Gold award in the Virtual Media category for the In Their Words: Captive State Incarceration Testimonials
Silver Award in the Media Productions category for A Deliberate Retreat: New Orleans’s Shifting Jails
Silver Award in the Virtual Media category for Pham-Vu Family Journey: How One Family Made it Home

Left to right: the hnoc.org homepage before and after its redesign, developed in collaboration with international design firm STUDIO LHOOQ.

Award winners will be celebrated at the 2025 Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon Oct. 22 in Montgomery, Alabama, as well as in the Winter 2025 Edition of INSIDE SEMC, a digital publication of the Southeastern Museums Conference. This designation recognizes HNOC’s significant contribution to professional standards in Southeastern museums.

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Views of Captive State. Photos by Amber Johnson, HNOC

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Views of Captive State. Photos by Amber Johnson, HNOC

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Unknown Sitters exhibition. Photo by Keely Merritt, HNOC

20240927 Commissioner Tenisha Stevens Mayors Office Criminal Justice Coordination MC027

Museum visitors watch A Deliberate Retreat: New Orleans’s Shifting Jails in Captive State. Photo by Melissa Carrier, HNOC

View of In Their Words: Captive State Incarceration Testimonials installation in Captive State. Photo by Keely Merritt, HNOC

Making It Home Lantern Video Projection. Photo by Amber Johnson, HNOC

The Oral History Table in Making It Home. Photo by Tere Kirkland, HNOC

Left to right: the hnoc.org homepage before and after its redesign, developed in collaboration with international design firm STUDIO LHOOQ.

Left to right: the hnoc.org homepage before and after its redesign, developed in collaboration with international design firm STUDIO LHOOQ.

Related Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Making It Home: From Vietnam to New Orleans

April 4 to October 5, 2025

Elders of the Vietnamese community describe their journey to a new country 50 years ago.

View View

A black-and-white photo of a man and woman standing in traditional attire in front of a shrine with religious images and candles. A vintage television sits nearby. The floor has a patterned design.

Exhibitions

Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration

July 19, 2024 to February 16, 2025

Learn how the institutions of slavery and mass incarceration are historically linked, and how these connections have made Louisiana the world leader in incarceration today.

View View