APNA Nurse Awards

Submissions are now closed for APNA Nurse Awards 2023

We are excited to announce that the submission period for the APNA Nurse Awards 2023 has ended. We appreciate all the nominations that were submitted.

Update: While we had hoped to make the announcement of winners on Monday, 4 December, due to the high volume of nominations received this year, the jury has requested additional time to thoroughly review and determine the winners.

Keep your eyes out for the Monday, 11 December edition of the Connect for the all-important winners' names – just one extra week to wait!

The winners will each secure a full three-day pass to the Festival of Nursing 2024.

If you have any queries, please email us or give us a direct call.

Email: anmol.khurana@apna.asn.au
Phone: 1300 303 184

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APNA Nurse Awards 2022

Six primary health care nurses were celebrated in APNA’s Nurse Awards in 2022. 

APNA President's Award

Winner: Jeffrey Fuller, SA

Rosemary Bryant Award

Winner: Jo Perks, NSW

APNA Graduate Nurse of the Year

Winner: Dahye Yu, NSW

APNA Nurse of the Year

Winner: Helen Dickinson, NSW
Finalist: Sharon James, NSW 
Finalist: Jayne Lehmann, SA

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APNA Nurse Awards 2019

Six nurses from around the country were celebrated in APNA’s Nurse Awards in 2019. 

APNA President's Award

Winner: Rosemarie Winsor, WA

Rosemary Bryant Award

Winner: Judi Wicking, VIC 

APNA Graduate Nurse of the Year

Winner: Kaara Ray Calma, NSW
Finalist: Ellen Patterson, NSW

APNA Nurse of the Year

Winner: Meryl Jones, QLD
Finalist: Susan McInnes, NSW

Our winners

Rosemarie Winsor
APNA President’s Award

Rosemarie Winsor has been the heart, soul, president and every other role with the Western Australian Practice Nurses Association (WAPNA) for over 20 years—all in a voluntary capacity.

Rosemarie believes that networking and working together with other nursing groups, professional groups, and Primary Health Networks is essential to improve the overall outcome of health benefits for our community. Rosemarie is passionate about nurses being provided any opportunity to gain more knowledge in their area of work. As a result she corresponds with many primary health care professionals and enables networking for the benefit of others, particularly for the nurses of Western Australia where the tyranny of distance creates a further barrier to the isolation of primary health care and general practice nurses.

Rosemarie has dedicated herself over 20 years to WAPNA, as president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and all whilst carrying out the education and liaison function Rosemarie has participated in many working groups and programs over the years, with some of the more recent ones being Nurse

Ambassador training with the Heart Foundation, APNA’s Career and Education Framework, and Drug and Alcohol working group TadPole. Rosemarie is a stalwart of nursing in Western Australia, and is truly deserving of this accolade, for the legacy she has left the primary health care nursing profession.

Judi WIcking
Rosemary Bryant Award

In 2001 Judi Wicking was approached by the then Whitehorse Division of General Practice to develop and establish the nurse-led Asthma Clinics in General Practice Program.

By 2007 Judi began working for the National Asthma Council as the project manager for General Practice and Allied Health Professional Asthma Education program. This job, whilst continuing to conduct asthma and respiratory clinics in five general practices, was the most personally and professionally rewarding time in her career. While working with the National Asthma Council Australia, Judi spoke about asthma management at conferences both here in Australia and internationally.

Over time Judi’s interest in how asthma educators working collaboratively with general practitioners to help patients with chronic respiratory health needs grew, and led to several published research studies.

Judi retired from the National Asthma Council last November and is now semi-retired, continuing one nurse-led asthma and respiratory clinic along with other consulting work and enjoying time with her grandchildren.

Meryl Jones
Nurse of the Year

Meryl Jones, Nurse Unit Manager at Mater Refugee Health Service in Brisbane, is passionate about health advocacy, and improving access and quality in primary care for refugees and asylum seekers. Her role is highly complex involving extremely vulnerable patients, but Meryl is flexible and resilient.

Valued as a leader with a wealth of knowledge and willingness to share with others, Meryl’s direct patient service informs constant quality improvement. She uses observations and data collected by her team to continuously improve processes and patient care.

In collaboration with a nurse colleague, Meryl also developed best practice guidelines for immunising refugees. Meryl is an active member of the Queensland Refugee Health Partnership Advisory Group which has been instrumental in producing Queensland’s first refugee health and wellbeing policy and action plan, and making systemic changes in refugee health state-wide.

Susan McInnes
Nurse of the Year Finalist

Susan works as a lecturer and early career researcher in the School of Nursing at the University of Wollongong. In 2018, Susan graduated with a PhD for her research around collaboration between general practice nurses and general practitioners. Over the last 12 months she has led the revitalisation and delivery of the Primary Health Care unit within the University of Wollongong Bachelor of Nursing program. The unit content was extensively reviewed and updated to reflect both contemporary evidence and the reality of primary health care practice.

Susan has recently been involved in developing mental health standards for nurses in Australian general practice. These standards have informed the development of a mental health education program designed specifically for registered nurses working in general practice to consolidate and enhance their skills around mental health care.

Kaara Ray Calma
Recently Graduated Nurse of the Year

Kaara Ray Calma is a registered nurse and authorised nurse immuniser working in general practice since 2016. Kaara published the findings from her thesis titled ‘An exploration of the experiences of Australian Grey Nomads travelling with chronic conditions’ in the Australian Journal of Primary Health. Due to her passion in primary health care, Kaara undertook her PhD under a full Australian Government scholarship in the School of Nursing at the University of Wollongong. She is also a teacher at the University of Wollongong teaching primary health care within the Bachelor of Nursing.

Kaara has further demonstrated her commitment and advocacy for primary health care by representing Australia at the Global Conference of Primary Health Care in Astana, Kazakhstan in October 2018.

Ellen Patterson
Recently Graduated Nurse of the Year Finalist

Ellen is a registered nurse who has just completed her graduate year as a general practice nurse at the Hunters Hill Medical Practice in Sydney. Ellen completed her degree as a mature age student, despite the demands of a busy family life as a mother of four children. Clinical placements during her training included a rural placement in Broken Hill, New South Wales, and one on the island of Vanuatu.

Ellen was also selected for a critical clinical placement in a leading Sydney hospital in the nurseled research unit and performed her assignment on home-based immunoglobulin therapy comparing methods of delivery. She was also involved in advocating for her fellow peers which involved critical research in the field of immunology such as HIV/AIDS.

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APNA Nurse Awards 2018

Six primary health care nurses were celebrated in APNA’s Nurse Awards in 2018

Rosemary Bryant Award

Winner: Chris Helms, ACT

APNA Nurse of the Year Award

Winner: Cathy Carrasco, VIC
Finalist: Caroline Gibson
Finalist: Margaret Crowley

APNA Graduate Nurse of the Year Award

Winner: Shangying Tian, SA
Finalist: Kerry-Lee McBride

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APNA Nurse Awards 2017

Eight nurses from country to city were celebrated in APNA’s Nurse Awards in 2017. 

APNA President's Award

Winner: Samantha Moses, Mt Eliza, VIC

Rosemary Bryant Award

Winner: Jane Butcher, Willeton Perth, WA 

APNA Graduate Nurse of the Year

Winner: Maria Young, Mungindi on the Queensland/New Soutth Wales border, QLD
Finalist: Jedda Outten, North Wollongong, NSW 
Finalist: Robbie Bedbrook, Leichhardt, Sydney, NSW

APNA Nurse of the Year

Winner: Holly Robinson, The Oaks, Macarthur Region, NSW
Finalist: Joanne Wilson, North Perth, WA
Finalist: Kim Rayner, West End Brisbane, QLD