The prompt

You would be excused for expecting little more than a scratch-and-sniff column from me this week. Having spent a whirlwind 10 days up in Shetland for my best friend's wedding, I'm barely able to think straight, never mind write more than an SOS in Morse code.

The innovative column I suggest is one that would evoke Britain's most northerly isle by reeking of rum and 'reested mutton' when it receives the slightest abrasion. Given that a Shetland wedding rivals an Indian one in proportion, preparation and execution, easing myself back in gently would be much appreciated, thanks.

No? It's just as well then that your cultural correspondent managed to hide some brain cells from the demon drink during the trip and grab a visit to the Shetland Museum and Archive.

Only a year open, it has already welcomed more than 77,000 visitors through its doors. Sure, it's not the 45 million visitors who led to Glasgow's Kelvingrove last week being named Scotland's busiest visitor attraction, but it's not bad for an island with a population of barely 20,000. Further proof of its success, beyond the footfall, is that the museum has made it to the four-strong shortlist of Britain's biggest and most prestigious art prize – the Art Fund Prize (formerly the Gulbenkian) of £100,000. It also made it to the final five for – but just missed out on winning – the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award earlier this month.

Too often museums on a similar scale can feel awkwardly apologetic. Like most things in Shetland, however, the museum is a gift that just keeps on giving.

With something like 3,000 items on display, 60,000 photographs in its archive, and a boat-building shed in which you can watch two local men at work recreating the traditional fishing vessel – a sixareen – from the last remaining example, it makes for a stimulating immersion into local culture. The sixareen will ultimately be put back in the dock for people to step inside.

There are many misconceptions about Shetland, and I'm sure I have been guilty of a few of them myself, but some of my time there was spent in the company of a young knitwear designer, Joanna Hunter, who is currently in negotiations with Stella McCartney; and with Vicky Gray, a young musician who has devoted herself to the heritage of Shetland tunes, and plays with Aberfeldy. Two tiny examples that speak of the wider truth about Shetland culture – that it is modern, confidently steeped in its past and that it is thriving.

The museum symbolises this to stunning effect, with its sailing boat mast design reaching into the sky and out to the sea with pride. I hope it runs away with the prize.

OUR WRITERS' WEEK

FIONA LEITH

ARTS EDITOR

At Edinburgh College of Art's Fashion Show, on Wednesday night, many of the designers wore their Eighties influence a little too heavily, but the overall theme was one of a punk attitude to fabric and form, with anything approaching a clean line interrupted or accentuated to fantastical proportions. Picasso's cubism inspired Montserrat Castellano's summer dresses and Art Deco was clearly the period Rachel Lamb's adorable hats and colours stemmed from – merely two of the graduates referencing wider cultural icons but definitely who the smart money should be on.

STUART KELLY

LITERARY EDITOR

I was delighted that Radio 4 broadcast two Pinter shorts – 'Landscape', with Pinter himself, and 'The Examination', with Michael Gambon. I've always thought his work gained something when it forgoes the visuals – the plays become eerier and the silences fill with more menace. In preparation for an event I'm chairing with comic writer Mark Millar I read Wanted, Superman: Red Son and Marvel Civil War (and quite a few others for "background", such as DC's Infinite Crisis and Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps). The man's a genius.

CHITRA RAMASWAMY

ARTS WRITER

Saw Nicola Benedetti performing with the RSNO for their end-of-season concert at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall and was blown away. Benedetti played Szymanowski's Violin Concerto, the stunning and intricate interpretation that won her the BBC Young Musician of the Year award back in 2004, and her delivery was astonishing – voluptuous, passionate and technically astute. It felt a privilege to be there to witness it. I was delighted to discover a few days later that Benedetti had won her first classical Brit award after being nominated five times.