The Veterinary Nursing Golden Jubilee Award

The VN Golden Jubilee Award was introduced in 2011 to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the first veterinary nurse training course.

The Award is aimed at veterinary nurses who have had a sustained and distinguished career, who can demonstrate a leadership role within the profession and who can act as an ambassador for the value of veterinary nurses and their work.

Nominees must be RVNs (excluding current VN Council members) but nominators can be RVNs or MRCVS, also excluding current RCVS Council and VN Council members. The nominations period usually starts in the autumn and closes in January.

The nomination period for the Veterinary Nursing Golden Jubilee Award 2020 is now open with nominations being accepted until Friday 10 January 2020. The Golden Jubilee Award will be bestowed at Royal College Day 2020 which takes place on 1 Great George Street on Friday 10 July 2020.

How to nominate

Using our online webforms

You can use our webform to make a nomination for the VN Golden Jubilee Award via our website. The two supporters’ statements should be attached to the webform as separate word documents.

Please note that the webforms do not currently allow the user to save their form and return to it later. We recommend that you write out your answers into a Word document that you can save, and then copy and paste your answers into the webform to avoid losing your work.

Download a nomination form

Alternatively, you can download a nomination form for the VN Golden Jubilee Award from the 'Related documents' section, at the end of this page. Once completed you can then either email it to Susie Tomlin, RCVS Executive Assistant, on s.tomlin@rcvs.org.uk or send it by post to Susie Tomlin, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 62 – 64 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AF. Please ensure that you email or post two additional supporting statements from the nomination’s two supports. At least one of these must be someone who is not a close working colleague of the person nominated, to demonstrate breadth of support. The supporting statements should be no longer than 250 words and should include:

• The name of the nominee
• The award or honour for which they are being proposed
• Supporter’s job title
• Relationship to the nominee
• Information about why the supporter believes the nominee should receive the VN Golden Jubilee Award
• Date

Previous award recipients

2019: Jane Devaney RVN, Head Nurse at the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital at the University of Liverpool, for her dedication to the veterinary nursing profession and tireless work to make make veterinary nursing a specialism equal to any other branch of equine veterinary practice, cementing the incredible value of veterinary nurses as part of the veterinary team.

2018: Not awarded

2017: Kathy Kissick RVN for her contribution to veterinary education as former Head of Veterinary Nursing and Myerscough College and her championing of the profession as Chair of VN Council.

2016: Louise O’Dwyer RVN for her leadership role in the profession as a clinical director for a veterinary group, her advocacy on behalf on the profession and her research work into antimicrobial resistance.

2015: Dot Creighton RVN for her pioneering awareness raising on behalf of the profession as a President of the British Veterinary Nursing Association including founding what would become VN Awareness Month.

2014: Hayley Myfanwy Walters RVN for her clinical, education and international outreach work as an Anaesthesia and Welfare Veterinary Nurse at the University of Edinburgh Hospital for Small Animals and the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.