N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island wins Newsweek Readers’ Choice Award

The N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island is honored and thrilled to announce that it is a winner in the 2025 Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards contest for Best Aquarium.

Nominees from across the United States were selected by an editorial panel of travel experts and Newsweek contributors. Polls closed after a public voting period of 28 days during the month of March. The top ten winners were announced on Thursday.

Newsweek’s description of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island praised the Aquarium’s flagship Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, also known as the S.T.A.R. Center.

“Known for its stellar sea turtle rehab center, the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island has something for everyone, from the alligators and turtles of the Outer Banks to the Atlantic’s sharks, jellies and of course, sea turtles,” the panelists stated.

The national publication, which reaches 100 million people each month, also highlights the Aquarium’s impressive Graveyard of the Atlantic exhibit, a 285,000-gallon ocean habitat featuring a model of the Civil War-era USS Monitor that serves as a home to sand tiger sharks, tarpon, sheepshead, Atlantic spadefish and more.

“The entire team at the Aquarium takes the work they do for our animals and our guests extremely seriously and with a great deal of pride,” Larry Warner, director of the Aquarium said. “It is an honor to be a nominee, but to then be voted by the public as a Best Aquarium winner for Newsweek’s Readers’ Choice Award is a validation of the team’s pride and passion.”

A 61,000 square-foot facility sited on 16 acres, the Aquarium welcomes an average of 320,000 guests each year, including volunteers and students on school field trips.

The 3,000-square-foot S.T.A.R. Center provides medical care and rehabilitation assistance to sea turtles, mostly loggerhead, Kemps ridley and greens.

During the winter of 2024-25, the Aquarium provided care to nearly 800 cold-stunned sea turtles and has since successfully rehabilitated and released over 600 of those sea turtles into the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream.

Founded in 1976, the Aquarium is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2026.