The Australian Nurse of the Year Award was created to honour and showcase excellence in the

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

profession throughout Australia. It has become recognised as the highest civilian accolade for a nurse in Australia. There were 437,516 nurses registered to practice in Australia in 2021. The award was established in 2003 to 2004 to recognise the exceptional contributions the recipient has made to improving care and outcomes for patients, providing excellent care in the face of adversity or other challenges, or for an outstanding act of kindness, understanding, compassion or courage, above and beyond the normal role as a nurse anywhere in Australia. A judging panel of nationally recognised nursing experts assesses the top individual nominees and selects a nurse from each of Australia's states and territories. Each state or territory finalist is flown to a state capital (the place of ceremony is changed each year), where the winner is announced at a formal ceremony. In recent years, other categories of awards have been added. These are for an Outstanding Graduate and another is for Team Innovation. Although the award is not associated with the Australian government-run

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

awards, it has been sponsored by various organisations and companies each year, including the Australian

Department of Health and Ageing The Australian Federal Department of Health and Ageing was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and September 2013. The department was created after the 2001 federal election from the Department of ...

, The College of Nursing (Australia),

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

Medical Publications, the

Australian Nursing Federation The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is the largest union in Australia, with 274,956 members in 2018. The union is run by nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing to advance the industrial, political and professional intere ...

, Nursing Review, Laerdal, ME Bank, and other businesses. From their inception in 2004 the awards were hosted by Healthstaff Recruitment, and since 2007 by HESTA Superannuation Fund. The awards attract wide coverage from media, culminating in a national presentation held each year, usually on or close to, 12 May,

International Nurses' Day International Nurses Day (IND) is an international day observed around the world on 12 May (the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth) each year, to mark the contributions that nurses make to society. Background The International C ...

Past winners

*2004 Andrew Cameron of

Cue, Western Australia Cue is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia, located 620 km north-east of Perth. At the 2016 census, Cue had a population of 178. Cue is administered through the Cue Shire Council, which has its chambers in the historic ...

*2005 Catriona Chardon of

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It ...

(posthumously) *2006 Rosanne Squire of McLeans Ridge,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

*2007 Robyn Williams of

Wynnum, Queensland Wynnum is a coastal suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wynnum had a population of 12,915 people. The suburb is a popular destination in Brisbane due to its coastline, jetty and tidal wading pool. Geography Wynnum ...

*2008 Sam Gibson of

Subiaco, Western Australia Subiaco (known colloquially as Subi) is an inner-Western suburbs (Perth), western suburb of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is approximately west of Perth's central business district, in the City of Subiaco local government area. H ...

*2009 Lyn Olsen of

Dandenong, Victoria Dandenong is a list of Melbourne suburbs#Southeastern municipalities and their suburbs, southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the municipal council, council county seat, seat of the City ...

*2010 Charlotte Collins of

Trigg, Western Australia Trigg is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Stirling. Trigg Island is a small island off the coast of the suburb of Trigg. Overview Trigg Beach is one of Perth's most popular beaches for board rid ...

*2011 Paul Esplin of Sydney *2012 Jenny Anderson of

Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

*2013 Sara Lohmeyer of

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

*2014 Steve Brown of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

*2015 Catrin Dittmar of

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Lake Macquarie (Awabakal: ''Awaba'') is Australia's largest coastal salt water lake. Located in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, it covers an area of and is connected to the Tasman Sea by a short channel. Most of the residents of the City ...

*2016 Angie Monk of

Joondalup, Western Australia Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's outer ...

*2017 Sarah Brown of

Alice Springs, Northern Territory Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Ali ...

*2018 Gail Yarran of

East Perth, Western Australia East Perth is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located next to the Perth central business district. Claise Brook and Claisebrook Cove are within the suburb. Formerly characterised by industrial land uses and urban blight, the redev ...

*2019 Professor Kate Curtis of

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

*2020 Tania Green of Monash, Victoria *2021 Shannon Philp of

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

*2022 Sue Hegarty

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

References

{{reflist Australian awards Nursing in Australia 2003 establishments in Australia Awards established in 2003 Nursing awards