HONOURING A DECADE OF NURSING EXCELLENCE
2012
Establishment
The Queen Silvia Nursing Award is established by Founding Organizations Ideella förening Forum For Elderly Care and Swedish Care International.
The Award is established in honour of Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden’s many years of advocacy for better quality care for older adults and people living with dementia.
The Award is open to all Swedish nursing students who contribute ideas and innovations to improve the quality of geriatric care, with exceptional emphasis on care for people living with dementia.
Her Majesty’s engagement and advocacy has also led to the establishment of Stiftelsen Silviahemmet - a center of excellence within dementia knowledge exchange and capacity building; as well as lending support to the SilviaBo housing concept and Dementia Forum X.
(These images are kindly provided by Stiftelsen Silviahemmet.)
2013
First laureate announced
22-year-old Hanna Davidsson of Röda Korsets Högskola in Stockholm is announced as the very first Queen Silvia Nursing Award winner.
The announcement of the program’s inaugural winner was made on Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden’s 70th birthday - the 23rd of December 2013.
This begins the tradition of releasing the names of future laureates on The Queen of Sweden's birthday.
2014
Tervetuloa verkostoon!
Finland becomes the first country to join the Queen Silvia Nursing Award network.
Laura Virtanen - a nursing student from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences - is named Finland’s first QSNA winner for her idea "Nurses' HelpDesk" - a web-based service for elderly care staff to receive help and support quickly and easily from fellow health and welfare professionals. She joins Emilia Engman of Röda Korsets Högskolan as QSNA 2014 ambassadors.
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2016
Powitaliśmy wszystkich polskich studentów pielęgniarstwa!
Medicover Foundation, under the Medicover Polska organization, brings the Queen Silvia Nursing Award to Polish nursing students. Natalia Duszenska, a nursing student at Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny is the country’s first ambassador. Natalia joins Saga Wahlström of Sweden’s Mälardalens universitet as well as Michelle Ena of Finland's Novia University of Applied Sciences as 2016 winners.
2017
Willkommen!
Germany’s St. Anna-Stift Kroge joins the network to highlight the opportunities nursing students have to creatively impact the care of older adults and people living with dementia.
Berit Ehmann of Evangelische Fachschule für Altenpflege in Backnang wins the honor with her idea to install emergency call buttons in care rooms. She joins the rest of the 2017 winning cohort with Rebecca Eriksson of Röda Korset Högskola in Sweden, Katri Sajama of Tampere University of Applied Sciences, and Aldona Reczek-Chachulska of Pomorski Uniwersytet Medyczny.
2020
#Yearofthenurse & COVID19
With the COVID19 pandemic and in recognition of the World Health Organization's "Year Of The Nurse," the Queen Silvia Nursing Award opens applications to nurses throughout the entire network.
The Queen Silvia Nursing Award adds an additional two countries to the network with Lithuania’s Addere Care and USA’s University of Washington School of Nursing. Lisabet Lindbäck of Sweden, Inka Häkkinen of Finland, and Radosław Romanek of Poland are the first nurses to win the Queen Silvia Nursing Award. Nursing students Linda Smit of Ammerländer Ausbildungszentrum Germany, Karolina Adomavičiūtė of Vilniaus universitetas Lithuania, and Brooke Tamble of the University of Washington School of Nursing are also announced as 2020 winners. Due to the pandemic, there was no ceremony organized in 2020. Both 2019 and 2020 winners are honored in a Grand Ceremony with limited seating at the Royal Palace in fall 2021.
2021
Bem-vindo!
Brazil becomes the latest Queen Silvia Nursing Award network country. Vibe Saúde, a telehealth company providing professional nurse, doctor, and psychologist services online for millions of Brazilians, spearheads the initiative. Brazilian nurse Jean Singh becomes the country's and Latin America’s first Queen Silvia Nursing Award winner. His ambition is to bring digital support, remote monitoring, and quality care to improve the quality of life for cancer patients.
Jean is joined by Stephan Wengel of Germany and Silvija Sutkutė of Lithuania as 2021 nurse winners. 2021 nursing student winners were Caroline Bjarnevi of Röda Korsets Högskola Sweden, Markus Suominen of Turku University of Applied Sciences Finland, Julia Osiecka of Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny Poland, and Michael Drake of the University of Washington School of Nursing.
2022
Leadership in Care
The Queen Silvia Nursing Award’s mission to lift the voices and contributions of care talent expands further.
In celebrating Leadership in Care, the Queen Silvia Nursing Award expands the award’s scope to include Swedish and Finnish healthcare assistants and healthcare assistant students in a category of their own.
This recognises the importance of team work and diverse skills-sets to achieve quality care for older patients and people living with dementia.
2023
Ten years of talent
As we mark the 10th anniversary of the Queen Silvia Nursing Award, we reflect on the outstanding achievements of the 42 winners and their game-changing ideas. These dedicated professionals are essential to the health and well-being of our communities. They will guide, shape, and lead the nursing profession through its ongoing evolution and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
We take pride in the progress made in geriatric and dementia care and pay tribute to the talented individuals and Main Partners with a dedicated focus on this important work. This special occasion also serves as a reminder that aging should be embraced, and it inspires us to continue investing in the future of care and nurturing the next generation of professionals who will make a difference in the lives of those they serve.