Nominations for the 2026 Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards are now open. Nominations close on Wednesday 18 February at midnight.
This year there are 15 categories to choose from with some new or updated from previous years to reflect nurses and midwives of the NT. To nominate, select the appropriate award category below.
NT Health annually host the awards to recognise and celebrate the outstanding efforts of nurses and midwives across the Territory.
The 2026 awards will celebrate 22 years of recognising outstanding excellence in:
You can make a nomination through the online form which will be available under the below category headings from Tuesday 27th January. Please read the ‘Nomination process, conditions and information collection’ (scroll down to find) before submitting your nomination.
Finalists will be virtually announced on Friday 27 March.
The 2026 NT Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards recognise the hard work and dedication of our nurses and midwives. This year marks the 22nd year of the Awards.
The gala dinner will be held to announce the award winners and recognise the amazing work our nurses and midwives do to enhance the health and wellbeing of Territorians every single day. Held in Darwin, the gala dinner is hosted by Hon Steve Edington, MLA, Minister for Health.
This event is an opportunity to shine the light on all nurses and midwives working in services across the Northern Territory and thank them for all they do.
Gala dinner details:
When: Friday 8 May 2026
Time: 6pm to 11:30pm
Venue: TBA
Dress code: Territory formal
After the awards night, you can read all about the winners on our award webpage.
This award aims to recognise a Student of Nursing and/or Midwifery who has shown exceptional potential during their placement or employment (as a EN in Training or Registered Undergraduate Student of Nursing/Midwifery [RUSoN/M])
To be eligible for the Student of the Year they must meet the following criteria:
This award aims to recognise nursing/midwifery graduates who have shown exceptional potential during their first five years of practice.
This award acknowledges a nurse/midwife who demonstrates leadership and commitment to innovative, quality teaching and learning. The nominee supports others to identify and achieve their professional development, goals and works to ensure the appropriate support for learning are available.
This award recognises a nurse/midwife who consistently advocates for and/or implements quality improvement and research activities into the workplace.
This award recognises the outstanding performance of an Enrolled Nurse or Registered Nurse working in aged and residential care settings.
This award highlights outstanding leaders (i.e. clinical leaders, service directors or managers) who continually exhibit excellence in leadership.
‘Good leaders inspire people to have confidence in the leader. Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves’ – Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt.
This award recognises exceptional commitment to the provision of safe, responsive and kind culturally appropriate health care by a nurse or midwife working in rural or remote setting in the NT.
This award recognises the exceptional commitment of enrolled nurses, registered nurses, nurse practitioners or midwives working in primary care, public health and community care settings.
Eligible nominees may be working in public health, primary health, community mental health, domiciliary nursing, school health, child health, disability services, or practice nursing.
This award recognises a nursing or midwifery team who provide services and initiatives that benefit the patient and/or community and enhance patient and employee experiences. The team exhibit safe, responsive and kind values, and excel in effective collaboration with each other and others external from their team.
This is a consumer-nominated award to recognise a nurse/midwife or team who consistently provides extraordinary, safe, responsive and kind care. The nurse/midwife or team demonstrates an uncompromising commitment to elevating the patient experience by building connection with patients and their families through trust, kindness and empowerment.
This award recognises an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurse or Midwife who has demonstrated leadership or excellence in one or more of the following areas: clinical practice, policy or leadership, research or teaching and learning.
This award recognises an enrolled nurse who has made an outstanding contribution in providing and coordinating safe, responsive and kind care to the people and the communities of the NT. This nurse shows a passion for their profession, goes the ‘extra mile’ and demonstrates a ‘can do’ positive attitude’.
This award recognises a nurse/midwife who has made a lasting contribution to their profession.
Nominees for this award are not required to be currently employed as a nurse or midwife or hold current registration.
This award recognises a registered nurse or nurse practitioner who has made an outstanding contribution in providing and coordinating safe, responsive and kind care to the people and the communities of the NT. This nurse shows a passion for their profession, goes the ‘extra mile’ and demonstrates a ‘can do’ positive attitude’.
This award recognises a midwife who has made an outstanding contribution in providing and coordinating safe, responsive and kind care to the people and the communities of the NT. This midwife shows a passion for their profession, goes the ‘extra mile’ and demonstrates a ‘can do’ positive attitude’.
Nominations
Most nominations take approximately 10 minutes to complete, except for submissions for the NT Administrator’s Medal, which may require additional time.
If you are nominating someone for the NT Administrator’s Medal, it is recommended that you prepare your written responses in advance before starting the online form.
Once you begin the nomination form, it must be completed in one session. Saving and returning later is not possible.
To submit a nomination, you will need:
Panel assessment
All nominations are reviewed by an independent panel with extensive expertise in nursing and midwifery.
The assessment process is confidential, and all decisions made by the panel are final. Neither the panel nor the chair is required to provide feedback to nominees or nominators.
For further details about eligibility and the assessment process, get the Judging Panel and Assessment Process guidelines.
The awards are open to all nurses, midwives or nursing and midwifery teams working in any specialty area or health care environment.
This includes:
Who can nominate?
Self or family member nominations will not be accepted.
Nominee’s must be:
The Student of the Year is only open to those who do not already hold registration with AHPRA i.e. this excludes anyone who is post initial registration. Nominees must be enrolled in the following courses:
Excellence in Aged and Residential Care Nursing award is open to nurses working in an aged care facility, residential care and/or community programs.
Nominee’s for the NT Administrator’s Medal are not required to:
A nurse/midwife may be nominated in more than one category.
Previous recipients are ineligible for nomination 2 years after receiving an award.
Nominators are required to address the specific award question in the nomination form.
Incomplete nominations will not be considered and will be deemed ineligible.
Nominations are only accepted via the online nomination form. No other methods will be accepted (e.g. email, printed hardcopy paperwork, phone call etc).
All nomination submissions become the property of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Office.
A nomination will be withdrawn if a nominee is found to have a record of unprofessional conduct.
The Northern Territory Department of Health respects and is committed to safeguarding the confidentiality and privacy of the information it collects and handles, in accordance with the Northern Territory Information Act 2002.
You have been asked to provide personal information necessary for us to identify potential recipients of the Nursing and Midwifery Awards. The awards are essential to maintain and improve engagement with the nursing and midwifery workforce, businesses and wider community. You do not have to provide your personal information but if you choose not to, the awards team will be unable to progress the nomination.
The information you provide will be accessible to the Northern Territory Department of Health and the awards panel assessors, and will only be used to deliver the 2026 awards. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties unless:
You may request access to the personal information we hold about you by contacting our Northern Territory Department of Health Information and Privacy Unit on 08 8999 2880 or infoprivacyhealth.ths@nt.gov.au.
If you want more information about the Northern Territory’s privacy laws, please refer to the Northern Territory Information Act 2002, or the Office of the Information Commissioner NT.
View the NMEA 2025 photos.
For previous recipients visit health.nt.gov.au
For more information contact
Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
© Northern Territory Government of Australia 2024
