Award for Excellence in Health Care Reporting (Ontario)

DEC. 27 — Wait times, overcrowded ERs, cancer care, the impact the environment has on health, the struggle to care for millions suffering from HIV/AIDS, and nurses’ working conditions are all issues that continued to make news headlines during 2006. As reporters look back over their last year’s work, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is inviting them to consider entering RNAO’s annual media awards competition.

The ninth annual Award for Excellence in Health-Care Reporting honours excellence in print, broadcast and online journalism that reveals how registered nurses and health-care issues affect communities across Ontario. RNAO also wants to recognize the important role journalists play in informing the public on emerging health-care issues.

Stories will be judged on content, writing, analysis, creativity and human interest/community impact. Please select an exceptional feature, news story, or radio/television broadcast that you feel should be recognized for its comprehensive treatment of nursing and health-care issues. You can also nominate a colleague for the award.

Each year, submissions arrive from large daily media outlets and small community operations across the province. Last year’s judges reviewed entries from CBC Radio and Television, Toronto Star, Sault Star, Kingston Whig-Standard and Ottawa Sun. Send us your news clippings, DVDs and CDs for stories published in Ontario newspapers, websites or magazines, or broadcast on radio or television in the 2006 calendar year. Winners will receive their awards in April at the President’s Banquet during RNAO’s annual general meeting.

For more information or an entry form, please visit: http://rnao.ca/about/awards/media-excellence.
SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED AT RNAO HEAD OFFICE NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 23, 2007.

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses wherever they practise in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has lobbied for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses’ contribution to shaping the health-care system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve.

For further information: Jill Scarrow, Communications Officer/Writer, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO), Phone: (416) 408-5604, 1-800-268-7199 ext. 210, jscarrow@rnao.org