Magnet Prize^® Program – 2013 Submissions Closed

The American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Prize^®, sponsored by the Cerner Corporation, recognizes extraordinary innovations and acknowledges peak performance within credentialed Magnet^® organizations. The Magnet Prize recognizes cutting-edge research, practices, services, technologies, programs, or other exemplary innovations with demonstrated positive outcomes.

Cerner Corp., a leading supplier of healthcare information technology, wants to encourage leading-edge nursing programs and practices by sponsoring the $25,000 purse attached to the Magnet Prize. The prize money should be used to continue, advance, or disseminate the innovation that was selected for the Magnet Prize, which includes attendance at continuing education programs and conferences to extend the knowledge of nurses involved with the innovation.

General Information
To further encourage the pursuit of excellence, ANCC's Board of Directors established the Magnet Prize, awarded only to Magnet-designated organizations. The award serves as a means for acknowledging peak performance. In many ways the word "Magnet" has become a philosophy and a symbol within the nursing profession for transforming work environments, for continuous pursuit of the best that we can be. Magnet designation, therefore, is not the apex, it is not static, and it is not unit-based. It is an institution-wide commitment to a culture within which excellence flourishes.

This award recognizes cutting-edge research, practices, services, technologies, programs, or other exemplary innovations with demonstrated positive outcomes. 

Magnet Prize Criteria

• The Magnet Prize is awarded only to Magnet organizations.
• The Magnet Prize will be awarded for a program/project that:
  • Is an extraordinary innovation beyond the scope of the innovations that are characteristic of Magnet organizations;
  • Is nursing initiated;
  • Involves all appropriate individuals in its conception, and implementation, including staff nurses and other services, as appropriate;
  • Is transformative of nursing, patient care, or the nursing environment;
  • Is enduring;
  • Can be replicated in other settings; and
  • Has demonstrated positive outcomes empirically linked to the innovation.

Please refrain from submitting quality or process improvement projects. Although the projects may encompass a number of the criteria noted above, they are not typically the type of programs/projects that the Magnet Prize was designed to recognize.

Application Process
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• Specific instructions on the preparation of the nomination and supplemental material are described on the nomination form.
• Applications for the Magnet Prize may be submitted by representatives of Magnet organizations, as well as entities or individuals who are aware of the exemplary, extraordinarily innovative nursing activity in a Magnet-designated organization. The Chief Nurse Officer must provide an endorsement letter and contact information.
• Confirmation of submission will be sent within 72 hours of receipt to the e-mail address of the nominator.
• Applications not resulting in the receipt of ANCC's Magnet Prize, including that of the Magnet Prize Honorees, may be re-submitted; however, applications resulting in an award of the Magnet Prize may not be re-submitted. Prior Magnet Prize winners are prohibited from applying for two (2) years after their award.
• Winners will be notified of a decision by June 21, 2013.
• There are no entry fees. Regardless of size, setting or location, all Magnet-designated organizations may submit an application for the Magnet Prize.
• Note: The nomination form contains a space for the nominator or CNO's digital signature.  If unable to digitally sign, please print the nomination form and scan into a PDF before sending the Magnet Prize application package.

Closing Date for Submissions

• Deadline for nomination submissions and supporting documents was March 1, 2013 for consideration in 2013. Submission must be made electronically. The 2014 submissions will open in January 2014.

The Award
The Magnet Prize will be presented during the National Magnet Conference^® in Orlando, Florida, October 2-4, 2013. ANCC will provide transportation, housing, and meeting registration for at least two of the award winners to attend. Award recipients will be asked to deliver a formal presentation on the innovation at a general session according to ANCC guidelines.

In addition to the Magnet Prize, one innovation may be recognized as the recipient of the Magnet Prize Honors during the Magnet Conference. The organization recognized as the Magnet Honors recipient may reapply for the Magnet Prize in future years.

Magnet Prize winners are prohibited from submitting another Magnet Prize application for two (2) years following their winning innovation.

• Nominations will not be accepted from organizations scheduled for Magnet Recognition renewal between March 1, 2013 and the 2013 National Magnet Conference^®.
• Only one nomination will be accepted each year from a given Magnet organization.
• The ANCC Magnet Prize Committee shall consider all submitted applications properly made and material submitted with or in support thereof.
• Material submitted with or in support of any application shall be received on the conditions that:
  • The Magnet Prize Committee shall not return such material or any portion thereof to the nominee or the nominators.
  • The Magnet Prize Committee may make such disclosure of the names of the nominees and the nominators and of the innovation disclosed in such material as the committee deems appropriate.
  • No claim shall be made and no action shall be brought against the American Nurses Credentialing Center, its Board of Directors, employees, or members of the Magnet Prize Committee arising out of the use made of such application material or of any such disclosure.
  • The applicant warrants that disclosure of material submitted with or in support does not breach the terms of any other contract or agreements, that the applicant is entitled to use the material, and that if any permissions are needed to use the material, the applicant has obtained those permissions.
• The decision of the Magnet Prize Committee is final. If in the opinion of the Magnet Prize Committee there are no applications considered suitable during a given year, no Magnet Prize shall be awarded.
• Each representative submitting a nomination must sign the prescribed Magnet Prize Application Form which will constitute his/her agreement to be bound by the Rules of the Magnet Prize, and which must be attached to the material submitted with or in support of any nomination.

Should Your Magnet Organization Apply?
If you answer "yes" to most of the following questions, you are strongly encouraged to apply for ANCC's Magnet Prize:

• Does the innovation benefit nursing?
• Does the innovation show a fair degree of intellectual achievement or quality of thinking?
• Has the innovation been fully thought through, developed and tested?
• Is the innovation unique and/or original?
• Does the innovation have results demonstrated over time?
• Is the innovation enduring?
• Can the innovation be replicated by others?