A programme launched by a Bermuda museum has been named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards.

The National Museum of Bermuda’s Tracing our Roots/Routes programme, which launched last year, was highlighted in the competitions education category.

The sixth annual World Changing Ideas Awards received “more than 2,997 entries” in a range of categories including transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice and others, with the winners selected by a panel of Fast Company editors.

The winners will be highlighted in this month’s edition ofFast Company magazine, set to be released next week.

David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company, said: “We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society’s most pressing problems, from shelter to the climate crisis.

“Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges.

“Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution.”

The TORR programme features a series of online workshops and presentations intended to help participants interview their living relatives, use genealogy methodology and access archival resources such as immigration records to trace their family history.

Elena Strong, executive director of the NMB said the TORR programme was intended to help make history relevant and accessible.

“It provides multiple ways to access and engage with history on a personal level using objects, photographs, art and primary and secondary sources,” she said.

“This collaborative programme is not only teaching historical research skills, it promotes critical thinking, seeing multiple perspectives, and builds empathy.

“It allows for reflection on personal and cultural identity and gives weight to stories and voices that have been traditionally marginalised from the historic narrative.”

The latest iteration of the programme is the Bermuda Family Scrapbook: Your Pictures, Your Stories, Our History, through which the NMB has encouraged those on the island – or those who previously lived in Bermuda – to share their historic family photographs and stories.

The images and stories submitted will become part of the NMB permanent collections and will also form digital and in-person exhibits at the Museum, launching later this year and in early 2023.