Respect for children and their parents wins Coventry attraction accolade of being Guardian's family-friendly museum of the year

Undercover trips by a team of judges, with their children, led to the crowning today of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry as the winner of this year's Guardian family friendly museum of the year award. The museum – celebrating its 50th birthday this year – came out top when it was assessed against the 20-point Kids in Museums manifesto, a template designed to get all museums to think more about how good at family visits they are.

The Herbert was named winner at a ceremony in London, beating a shortlist that included the Great North Museum, in Newcastle, the National Trust's Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, in York, the Highland Folk Museum, in Newtonmore, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, in Stoke, and the St Nicholas Priory, in Exeter. It wins 500 activity sheets illustrated by Quentin Blake.

The awards began in 2004, driven by the journalist Dea Birkett, who was horrified to be turfed out of the Royal Academy's Aztec exhibition when her son pointed at a scary exhibit and shouted: "Monster!" The campaign has gone from strength to strength, and launched its 2010 manifesto at the British Museum in January. Its aims range from an end to shushing to museums offering more flexible family tickets, not just for two adults and two children.

The Herbert opened in 1960, but was always a bit off the map until a £20m makeover in 2008. It now has eight permanent galleries exploring local history, from Lady Godiva to the Blitz, natural history and art.

Among the positive comments was one from family judge Claire Jowett, who visited undercover with her two children, Molly and Ruby.

"When you go in, there's a very open space – not like in other museums, where there's a desk in the middle and you have to walk around it to get in," she said. We ran straight into a workshop on designing an outfit. The vibe was so good – families were joking together."

The Herbert joins a list of previous winners including the Killhope mining museum, in County Durham, Oxford museums, the Falmouth Art Gallery and the Weston Park Museum, in Sheffield.

Birkett said: "There was one word which our undercover family judges repeatedly used about the Herbert – respect. Each of them said they felt respected as visitors. They were welcomed and asked what they wanted to do, not told what they ought to see. Their opinion, their experience and their view counted just as much as the curator's. It's meeting families on an equal footing at the museum door that won the Herbert this award."

Ludo Keston, the chief executive of the Herbert, described the win as "a fantastic accolade" and a vindication of the museum's efforts to be as welcoming to families as possible.

© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010