The relaunch comes after Veterinary Nurses Council agreed some significant changes to the award process and criteria at its October 2015 meeting. This included restricting the award to veterinary nurses only and making the award criteria more focused on leadership.
Liz Cox, Chair of VN Council, explained: ‘We agreed changes to this award in order to both encourage more nominations and to ensure that those who are nominated are people who are pushing forward the profession, whether that be clinically, politically or in terms of raising public awareness of what we do.
‘Nominees for the award must be people who are proactive and passionate in campaigning on behalf of the profession and who are taking on an ambassadorial role for it- for example, speaking about current issues and initiatives at congress, events or with local or national media.
‘The award was founded in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our first training course for veterinary nurses and its first winner was Jean Turner, a member of the profession since 1971. Subsequent winners have been Sue Badger (2012), Hayley Walters (2014) and Dot Creighton this year.
Speaking about leadership roles within the profession, Dot Creighton added: ‘We are in a great position to identify those natural leaders who are clearly motivational and not only feel passionate about their own career and work, but also of their whole profession. It is these veterinary nurses that need to be supported and encouraged to consider the wider positive impact they can have on the whole profession.
‘Although nominations must be veterinary nurses, the primary nominator can be either a veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse and the two supporting nominators can be laypeople.’
The deadline for returning nomination forms is Friday 29th January 2016 and nominations will be judged by a panel comprising of members of VN Council.
The award will be made at RCVS Day – their Annual General Meeting and Awards Day in July 2016. The winner will also be given a speaking opportunity at that year’s BVNA Congress in October.
Nomination forms, which include further details about the criteria and other requirements, are available to download.