NSNA/AAHN Essay Contest

NSNA and AAHN cosponsored an essay contest in which entrants were asked to submit a 1,000-word essay on any aspect of nursing history such as historical nursing figures and their impact, history of any aspect of nursing: public health, Red Cross, military nursing, disaster nursing, clinical nursing; schools of nursing.

​            The essays were judged on relevance to theme, writing style, originality, grammar, and spelling. They were to be prepared in Times Roman 12 pt font, double-spaced, and APA format for references. Judges were the members of the AAHN Membership Task Force: Shannon Perry, Teresa Savage, Paula Tropello, and Sheri Tesseyman.

Prizes:

• First Place: $300, Certificate, complimentary registration to the 68th Annual Convention in Orlando, FL April 15-19, 2020, and a 1 year membership in AAHN.
• Second Place: $200, Certificate, and a 1 year membership in AAHN.

Prizes were to be awarded on Saturday, April 18, 2020, at the closing ceremony of the 2020 NSNA Convention in Orlando, FL. Unfortunately, the Convention had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The winners received their awards by mail.

We received 23 essays. The winning essay was: “Male Nursing History in the Context of Past and Present Social Norms” submitted by Susynne Mcelrone, a student at Lehman College, Bronx, NY; second place was “Exposing Louisa May Alcott’s Hidden Contributions to Nursing” submitted by Emily Williams from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. The committee awarded an honorable mention to “The Content of Their Character” submitted by Faith Lee from Radford University-Carilion, Roanoke, VA. The committee also noted that “Hidden Figure in Civil War Nursing” submitted by Emily Kimle from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, was publishable with revisions. Congratulations to all.

The two winning essays will be published in a future edition of Imprint, the journal of NSNA.