YORK'S National Railway Museum has been shortlisted for a top tourism award over its hugely successful Mallard 75 celebrations.

The attraction has been named as a finalist in the Tourism Event of the Year category of the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015.

The museum now goes forward to the awards ceremony, which is being held on Monday May 11 at the Sage Gateshead.

Mallard 75 featured the iconic steam loco and its sister locomotives in a joint celebration of the 75th anniversary of its unbroken world speed record.

Head of public programmes Tobias Lumb, who was the project manager for Mallard 75, said: “We are delighted that we are among the five finalists in these prestigious awards. It is great that our event and York tourism as a whole has been recognised at a national level.”

Another finalist in the awards is The Dovecote Barns, of Kelfield, York, which has been shortlisted in the Self-Catering Holiday of the Year award category.

Dovecote Barns spokeswoman Brigita Bramley said: “We are so delighted to be selected once again as one of the best holiday offerings in the country and will continue to promote York as a great welcoming place to visit.”

The World of James Herriot at Thirsk has also been shortlisted for the Small Attraction of the Year award, and the Talbot in Malton is a finalist in the Small Hotel category.

All finalists are guaranteed to receive either a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Highly Commended Award.

Kate McMullen, head of Visit York, said she was delighted Dovecote Barns and Mallard 75 had both been shortlisted.

"York has some of the country’s most outstanding self-catering apartments and our year-round festival programme is going from strength to strength," she said.

"We’re quietly confident York and Yorkshire businesses will be bringing home a few more awards for our tourism sector this summer and wish all the finalists the very best of luck."

James Berresford, chief executive of VisitEngland, said hundreds of applications, of an extremely high standard. had been received for the awards.

"That’s why all the finalists should be incredibly proud that they’ve been short-listed against such tough competition," he said.