In Paris recently, the National Gallery of Australia won the English language category of the ''Prix International du Livre d'art Tribal 2014 Award'' for a gallery catalogue, titled ''Atua: Sacred Gods from Polynesia''.
This 256-page book accompanied a recent big exhibition, of largely ancient Pacific art, at the Canberra gallery.
The three artefacts which the Otago Museum loaned for the show have not only featured in the ''Atua'' exhibition in Australia last year, but have also boosted awareness of the Otago Museum's collections at the St Louis Art Museum, in the United States, where the travelling show ends its season today.
Otago Museum curator humanities Moira White said the international award was a ''fantastic'' outcome for the National Gallery, the show's curator, Dr Michael Gunn, and the Otago Museum.
The award success, and the high-profile display of Otago Museum artefacts overseas were ''a wonderful way to help let the international community know about the strength of the collections'', Ms White said.
Dr Gunn, senior curator of Pacific art at the National Gallery, grew up in Dunedin and he gained a PhD in anthropology from the University of Otago.
He was ''very happy'' and proud the ''cover piece and the other two [artefacts]'' were from the museum in his ''home town''.
''It feels good to win'', because this also helped in ''validating the project'', with its exhibition and catalogue. The first thing anyone would see if they were looking at the catalogue was ''the profile of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) woman on the cover''.
A Dunedin photographer had also captured the ''superb'' image, he said.
Participating in an international exhibition like this could mean ''global exposure'' for an institution and its art works.
''Now the world of people who are interested in this sort of thing will become more aware of the Otago Museum as a destination,'' he said.
The two other artefacts loaned by Otago Museum were a wooden atua (god figure) from Wickliffe Bay, near Dunedin, and a wooden figure believed to be from the Austral Islands.
