Australian Nurse of the Year

The Australian Nurse of the Year Award was created to honour and showcase excellence in the nursing profession throughout Australia. It has become recognised as the highest civilian accolade for a nurse in Australia. There were 490,333 nurses registered to practice in Australia as of September 2025.[1]

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 awards, it has been sponsored by various organisations and companies each year, including the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, The College of Nursing (Australia), Elsevier Medical Publications, the Australian Nursing Federation, 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.

Past winners

Year Recipient Location Ref
2004 Andrew Cameron Cue, Western Australia [2]
2005 Catriona Chardon (posthumously) Lismore, New South Wales [3]
2006 Rosanne Squire McLeans Ridge, New South Wales [4]
2007 Robyn Williams Wynnum, Queensland [5]
2008 Sam Gibson Subiaco, Western Australia [6]
2009 Lyn Olsen Dandenong, Victoria [7]
2010 Charlotte Collins Trigg, Western Australia [8]
2011 Paul Esplin Sydney, New South Wales [9]
2012 Jenny Anderson Rockhampton, Queensland [10]
2013 Sara Lohmeyer Perth, Western Australia [11]
2014 Steve Brown Melbourne, Victoria [12]
2015 Catrin Dittmar Lake Macquarie, New South Wales [13]
2016 Angie Monk Joondalup, Western Australia [14]
2017 Sarah Brown Alice Springs, Northern Territory [15]
2018 Gail Yarran East Perth, Western Australia [16]
2019 Professor Kate Curtis Wollongong, New South Wales [17]
2020 Tania Green Monash, Victoria [18]
2021 Shannon Philp Sydney, New South Wales [19]
2022 Sue Hegarty Melbourne, Victoria [20]
2023 Caitlin Clayer Ti Tree, Northern Territory [21]
2024 Cathy Halmarick Frankston, Victoria [22]
2025 Tye Simpson Melbourne, Victoria [23]

References

  1. ^ "Nurse and Midwife – Registration Data – September 2025". Nursing and Midwifery Board. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  2. ^ "Australian Nursing Awards 2005 – 2004 Awards". Healthstaffrecruitment.com.au. 12 May 2004. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  3. ^ "Australian Nursing Awards 2005 Winners". Healthstaffrecruitment.com.au. 11 May 2005. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  4. ^ "Australian Nursing Awards 2006". Healthstaffrecruitment.com.au. 8 May 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Awards seek our brightest, best nurses". 22 January 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ^ "National "Hesta Nurse of the Year"". 1 July 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. ^ "Midwife "simply the best"". 18 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Australia's top nurses named in 2010 HESTA Awards". 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  9. ^ "St Vincent's Hospital Network" (PDF). www.health.nsw.gov.au. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  10. ^ "Nurse of the Year: Jenny Anderson from Rockhampton". 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  11. ^ "NoY-Winner-MR-Sara-Lohmeyer" (PDF). 10 May 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Victorian mental health nurse receives top national nursing award" (PDF). 10 May 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  13. ^ "Local nurse named 2015 Australian nurse of the year after April super storm". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 October 2015. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  14. ^ "HESTA Awards". HESTA. Archived from the original on 8 December 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  15. ^ Hose, Nickl (11 May 2017). "Central Australian head of renal dialysis service named Australia's top nurse". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  16. ^ "Trailblazing Gail is the nation's top nurse". 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Prof Kate Curtis takes out top honour". 13 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  18. ^ Fedele, Robert (7 May 2020). "Victorian Nurse crowned Nurse of the Year". ANMJ. Archived from the original on 6 November 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  19. ^ "Winners crowned in a celebration of Australia's nurses and midwives for 2021 HESTA Awards". 7 May 2021. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Winners crowned in a celebration of Australia's nurses and midwives for 2022 HESTA Awards". HESTA. 20 May 2022. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  21. ^ "2023 HESTA Australian Nursing & Midwifery Awards — winners announced". HESTA. 17 May 2023. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  22. ^ "Winners announced for the 2024 HESTA Australian Nursing & Midwifery Awards". 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  23. ^ "Winners announced for the 2025 HESTA Australian Nursing & Midwifery Awards". HESTA. 15 May 2025. Archived from the original on 16 September 2025. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
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