Juries

There were 30 juries at the Great Exhibition, consisting of 270 expert jurors from Britain and Europe. They inspected over 1 million exhibits, submitted by 17,000 exhibitors.

The jury of each class awarded a prize medal and, on the nomination of the jury, the Council of Chairmen awarded a council medal. Prizes did not denote order of merit but rather excellence in different qualities.

The jury's activities started on 12 May 1851 and lasted six weeks. The awards were made known on 16 July with 170 council medals and 2,918 prize medals awarded.