Excellence in Oncology Nursing Health Policy and Advocacy Award

2024 Award Recipient

Toby Bressler PhD, RN, OCN®, FAAN

View past recipients

Purpose

Recognize achievements and involvement in oncology nursing health policy and advocacy.

Award

A $500 cash prize, a desktop award, and travel reimbursement to attend the ONS Annual Congress.

Eligibility Criteria 

This award is eligible for self-nominations. The candidate must be an active ONS member. In addition, the candidate should:

  • Be a registered professional nurse
  • Have at least two years of oncology nursing experience
  • Be actively engaged in health policy and advocacy at the federal, state, or local level for at least two years immediately preceding nomination.

Application Materials

The following materials are required.

  • Nominee's resume or curriculum vitae
  • Nominee's personal statement
  • Two (2) letters of support

Scoring Criteria 

The scoring criteria for judging this nomination packet is as follows.

  • Nominee successfully worked to secure the enactment of policies (i.e., legislation, ordinances, regulations) aligned with ONS health policy priorities and positions or worked to defeat policies that run counter to ONS health policy priorities and positions.
  • Nominee helped to train and recruit nurses or other health professionals to become engaged in health policy and advocacy.
  • Nominee showed health policy and advocacy leadership at the chapter, state, or national level in informing other ONS members of health policy and advocacy efforts (e.g. legislative newsletters, updates, serving as legislative chair or SHPL).
  • Nominee collaborated with other organizations, entities, and individual advocates to further ONS health policy priorities and positions.

Nomination Deadline Notice

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT THE SEPTEMBER 30, 5:00pm E.T. NOMINATION DEADLINE!

ONS uses an external, vendor-supported online program for all award nomination applications. The application system is set up so that at exactly 5:00pm ET (Eastern Time), September 30, the application site will automatically shut down and be locked. Any applications that are open (not completed) at this time will be terminated and will not be accepted. It is imperative that all open applications be submitted prior to 5:00pm ET, September 30, in order to be accepted into the online system and be eligible for consideration. In order to be fair to all who may nominate individuals for consideration for an ONS award, the September 30, 5:00pm ET deadline cannot be extended without prior authorization from the ONS Board of Directors. If you have any questions regarding the ONS awards nomination process, please call the ONS Awards staff (412) 859-6320, or email: awards@ons.org.

Submit Your Application

TO APPLY ONLINE:

Visit the awards portal. You will be asked to create an account and confirm your account via email. Once completed, you will be given the option to “Start a New Nomination” and select the desired award from the dropdown menu.

Travel Information 

The recipient will receive travel reimbursement to attend the ONS Annual Congress. ONS will reimburse the award recipient for round-trip economy airfare to and from the recipient's home address to the Congress location, provided the recipient makes all travel arrangements through American Express Travel, ONS's official travel agency. Additionally, one (1) night's lodging will be permitted provided that the recipient makes the hotel arrangements through the ONS meetings department. Meals for a 24-hour period will be reimbursed, along with the reimbursement of certain ground transportation situations and parking, but there are limitations. Please contact awards@ons.org for complete details about the travel reimbursement policy.