Student Nursing Times Awards 2021

A welcome message from Nursing Times' Editor, Steve Ford.

Welcome to the Student Nursing Times Awards 2021. Our awards recognise you, a group of outstanding students on your journey to entering the nursing profession, as well as all those who support you along the way, from individual educators to education institutions to placement providers.

Given the ongoing difficulties facing the education sector due to the pandemic, I was really impressed by the strength of entries that we received for the awards this year. As you would expect, many feature learning innovations and outstanding students that reflect the challenges created by Covid-19, and that saw usual learning processes disrupted and nearly 30,000 students doing paid placements to help out on the front line.

Following last year’s virtual awards, we are returning to the fabulous Grosvenor House on London’s Park Lane, with judging having taken place at the Nursing Times office during September. Attending the awards on 4 November will be students from all over the UK and at different stages of the nursing education journey, from first years to those who have recently qualified. Your innovation and achievements so early in your career already make you sources of inspiration and highly employable in future.

Meanwhile, the many higher education institutions and placement providers represented on the shortlist demonstrate the constant evolution and development in the way the next generation of nurses are educated, equipping them to deal with the challenges they will face and to provide the best care possible.

It goes without saying that I would also like to thank our judges. Their hard work, time and commitment allows us to hold this annual celebration of nursing education. Given the quality and quantity of entries, choosing a winner is often not a straight-forward task. Likewise, I want to give a massive thanks to our sponsors for their ongoing support, as without them we could not hold this event.

Finally, well done once again to all our winners and finalists. Please enjoy the Student Nursing Times Awards 2021 and I look forward to hopefully seeing you at the ceremony.