Scholarships & Awards

Distinguished CEN Award

• Honors a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN)

• 2024 Winner
  

  Tina Owens

  BS, RN, CEN, CCRN, CRSN, CNML, MEDSURG-BC, NHDP-BC Buchanan General Hospital, Grundy, VA

  About Tina

  For over 40 years, Tina has been a nurse at Buchanan General Hospital, a stand-alone rural hospital in southwest Virginia. After being encouraged to earn the CEN by her nurse manager and mentor over 30 years ago, she has strived to pass it on by being a mentor for other nurses. When patients or nursing students ask Tina what CEN stands for, she proudly says: “The Best of Care.”

  From her bachelor’s degree thesis on the Utilization of Clinical Ladders to Build Strength and Confidence—with specialty certification being the key way to provide patients and families with validation that the nurse caring for them has demonstrated experience and knowledge in their specialty—to actively petitioning and working with her CEO and CNO for administration support of certification, Tina has epitomized Certified Emergency Nurse excellence and advocacy. As a result,  emergency and critical care nurses at BGH now enjoy robust encouragement and facility-provided financial support and incentives for specialty certification, and her colleagues credit her with impacting the culture of healthcare in their community.

  Read more about Tina in our Meet the Winner interview.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  Calee Muldrow, BSN, RN, CEN
  Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Dallas, TX

  2022
  Nicholas Jazdzewski, BSN, RN, CENFroedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, WI

  2021
  Heidi Cote, BSN, RN, CEN, CPEN
  Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME

  2020
  Jude Lark, BSN, RN, CEN, CCRN
  Overlook Medical Center, Summit, NJ

  2019
  Heather Linsalata, BSN, RN, CEN
  University Hospital, Newark, NJ

  2018
  Wilmar Flores, BSN, RN, CEN
  La Jolla Emergency Department, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Health Systems, La Jolla, CA

  2017
  Kathy Ingersoll, BSN, RN, CEN
  Harford Memorial Hospital, Havre de Grace, MD

  2016
  Kara Bauman, MN, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN
  Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, VA

  2015
  Diane Branson, RN, CEN, OR-SANE-A
  Salem Hospital, Albany, OR

Distinguished CPEN Award

• Honors a Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN).

• 2024 Winner
  

  Jordan McAdam

  BSN, RN, CPEN Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM

  About Jordan

  Before the COVID pandemic, Jordan identified the need to improve pediatric response in her rural, 60-bed hospital when completing the facility’s EMSC Pediatric Readiness scoring. She started by taking and passing the CPEN exam herself, and then mentoring other nurses to do the same while working with leadership to ensure the availability of pediatric educational content and funding for certification.

  In her role as Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC), Jordan lead efforts that saw the pediatric readiness score jump from 64 to 96 within a 3-year period, and the Northern Navajo Medical Center (NNMC) became the first in New Mexico to be recognized as Pediatric Ready by the New Mexico Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) and the University of New Mexico Child Ready Program. NNMC has one of the largest patient volumes in the Navajo Area Indian Health Service (NAIHS), which collectively delivers health services to over 244,000 American Indians in five Federal service units on and near the Navajo Nation.

  As her nominator wrote: “Jordan exemplifies what a certified nurse should be—an example of excellence, a mentor, and a champion for patient care.”

  Read more about Jordan in our Meet the Winner interview.

   

• Previous Winners

  2023
  Dawn Tasche, BSN, RN, CPEN
  Aurora Health Care in Sheboygan County, Sheboygan, WI

  2022
  Jessica Evins, BSN, RN, CPENin NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York, NY

  2020
  Lisa Chambers, MSN, MPS, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN
  CHOC Children’s Hospital, Orange, CA

  2019
  Cara Szeglin, BSN, RN, CPEN
  New York-Presbyterial Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York, NY

  2017
  Jodi Cregger, RN, MICT, CEN, CFRN, CPEN
  LifeTeam, Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, Hutchinson, KS

  2016
  Brian Johnson, RN, CEN, CPEN
  NorthBay Medical Center, Fairfield, CA

  2015
  Kristen Cline, BSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, SANE-A
  Sanford AirMed, Sioux Falls, SD

Distinguished CFRN Award

• Award honors a Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN).

• 2024 Winner
  

  Tyler Reeves

  RN, NRP, CFRN, CEN EagleMed, Great Bend, KS

  About Tyler

  Tyler began his nursing career in the ED of a small critical care access hospital in rural Kansas. His experience as an emergency nurse in a rural hospital gave him what he needed to pursue his dream job of flight nursing. After years of working in the ED, he accepted a job as a flight nurse with EagleMed flying on fixed wing aircraft, earned his CFRN, and then moved over to a new EagleMed rotor base in his hometown. Today, he serves as a clinical coach and the QA coordinator for that base.

  Through mentoring and clinical coaching, Tyler has oriented many new clinicians to flight medicine, incorporating CFRN content into their onboarding education to show them how to model their care and teach them best practices standards and then apply these in real patients in the flight environment. He makes himself available during work hours and after hours to answer questions and guide and share his vast collection of study materials as colleagues prepare to sit for the CFRN.

  To encourage and support crew members in maintaining their certifications, he extends invites to the many conferences he attends because, as he says, “Education is more enjoyable with friends.” He credits his own clinical coach who always put a heavy emphasis on advanced certification, and his coworkers, for their great help in their mutual educational journeys.

  Read more about Tyler in our Meet the Winner interview.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  Stacey Dock, MSN, RN, CFRN
  LifeFlight Eagle, Kansas City, MO

  2022
  Abigail Harvey, BSN, RN, CFRN, NREMT-PLutheran Health Network, Fort Wayne, Indiana

  2021
  Kevin Kissner, MSN, RN, CEN, CFRN
  VCU Health & Virginia State Police Med-Flight I , Richmond, VA

  2020
  Tonya Barnard, BSN, RN, CEN, CFRN, CPEN, CTRN, TCRN, CCRN, EMT-B
  Pafford Air One, Orlando, FL

  2019
  Carlos Tavarez, RN, CEN, CFRN, CTRN, TCRN, NREMT-P, FP-D, CCEMT-P, EMT-T, WEMT
  Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando, FL

  2018
  Teresa Elder, MEd, BSN, RN, CFRN
  Flight for LIfe Colorado, St. Anthony Hospital, Denver, CO

  2017
  Bambi Pish-Derr, DNP, CFRN, CCRN
  Angel MedFlight, Scottsdale, AZ

  2015
  Mick McCallum, TNS, RN, CFRN, CCRN, EMT-P, FP-C, CMTE
  Topeka, KS

Distinguished CTRN Award

• Award honors a Certified Transport Registered Nurse (CTRN).

• 2024 Winner
  

  Austin Johnson

  BSN, RN, EMT-P, C-NPT, CBRN, CCRN, CEN, CFRN, CPEN, CTRN, TCRN AdventHealth Orlando, Orlando, FL

  About Austin

  Lauded by AdventHealth Orlando for his “exceptional whole person patient care, his innovative approaches to critical care transport, and his unwavering dedication to his team” in his role as a Critical Care Transport Nurse, Austin’s dedication extends beyond his practice and support of his colleagues to industry forums, on social media and podcasts, and in his community.

  From discussing his love of transport nursing to celebrating workplace colleagues every Certified Nurses Day to sharing educational opportunities and resources to countless emergency nurses in every subspecialty to helping nurses succeed in their daily practice and career choices, he helps aspiring and more established nurses alike whenever and however he can.

  His main message, as he says, “always boils down to being proud of yourself and our profession. By setting the goal of certification and achieving it, you make yourself the best version of you possible.”

  Read more about Austin in our Meet the Winner interview.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  George Olschewski, BSN, RN, CFRN, CTRN, CEN, TCRN
  Hackensack University Medical Center Specialty Care Transport Unit, Hackensack, NJ

  2022
  Mackenzie Alexander, BSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, CTRN, CPENHarris Health System, Houston, Texas

  2016
  Kimberly Lacina, MSN, ARNP-C, CTRN, CEN, EMT-P
  Sunstar Paramedics, Largo, FL

Distinguished TCRN Award

• Honors a Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN).

• 2024 Winner
  

  Jamin Rankin

  BSN, RN, CEN, CFRN, TCRN, CPEN, CTRN Ochsner LSU Health Monroe Monroe, LA

  About Jamin

  According to his colleagues at Ochsner LSU Health System and his industry peers, Jamin doesn’t just talk about certification in his professional field, he lives it every day. As a trauma program manager at a busy urban hospital, he led his facility to become a verified and state-designated trauma center, and has established different methods to maneuver well between pre-hospital and in hospital at all levels to improve communication and patient outcomes. He also organizes regional Rural Trauma Team Development Courses and serves as faculty. Locally, regionally, and nationally, he’s led, facilitated and/or helped secure funding for numerous traumatic and pediatric emergency courses for nurses and other healthcare professionals and on injury prevention topics for citizens of all ages in his local community.

  When he is introduced using the different certifications he holds, including the Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN), he invariably mentions to the audience that the prep work for the exam, sharing the knowledge, and reflecting the professionalism of certification on one’s resume is where the value lies.

  Read more about Jamin in our Meet the Winner interview.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  Jordan Tyczka, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN
  Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg, VA

  2022
  Shayna Stevens, BSN, RN, TCRNTexas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, Plano, TX

  2021
  Julie Donnelly, MSN, RN, TCRN
  Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA

  2020
  Lt. Mariah Pruett, NC, BSN, RN, CEN, CFRN, CPEN, TCRN, CCRN
  David Grant USAF Medical Center, Fairfield, CA

  2019
  Travis Beebe-Woodard, BSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN
  University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT

  2018
  June Guadalupe, MSN, BSN, RN, CEN, CCRN, CMC, CNRN, TCRN 
  R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

  2017
  Andrea Wright, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN
  Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital Level I Trauma Center, Roanoke, VA

National Certification Champion Award

BCEN’s National Certification Champion Award recognizes healthcare facilities and health systems that:

• Exemplify excellence in supporting emergency RNs who pursue BCEN certifications
• Show achievement in designing and implementing effective and innovative practices and programs that encourage, support, and recognize emergency nursing specialty certification
• Demonstrate the impact of a board certified emergency nurse workforce on patient, nurse and organizational outcomes

NEW in 2025: BCEN invites burn centers and burn center networks to apply.

Nominations for the 2025 award cycle will be accepted May 2 – June 16, 2025.

Add to Calendar

One national winner will be recognized in each of the following categories:

• Small Healthcare Organization: single hospital emergency department, trauma program or freestanding emergency center with less than 30,000 visits per year, a single critical care ground transport and/or flight base, OR a single burn center/burn unit
• Large Healthcare Organization: single hospital emergency department, trauma program or freestanding emergency center with more than 30,000 visits per year
• Healthcare System: a group or system of two or more of the following: hospital emergency departments, trauma programs, freestanding emergency centers, critical care ground transport and/or flight bases, or burn center/burn units

Eligibility Requirements 

To be eligible for the BCEN National Certification Champion Award, a facility or organization must:

• Currently employ BCEN-certified emergency, trauma, transport and/or burn nurses
• Be actively engaged in supporting nurses in obtaining and maintaining one or more of BCEN’s specialty certifications
• Serve as a model for advancing board certification for the nursing profession

Nomination Requirements

In order to be considered, nominations must include the following:

• Completed nomination form
• Two (2) letters of reference from individuals with relevant professional positions or qualifications

Healthcare System

• 2024 Winner
  

  ChristianaCare

  Headquartered in Wilmington, DE

  Across the ChristianaCare emergency service system that includes its Newark, Wilmington, Middletown and Union campuses, the nursing team doesn’t just recommend advancing professional practice through advanced certification, they are committed to it. As a result its EDs, including Level I and III trauma centers, and flight/transport teams are shining examples of a specialty certification culture as they pursue and hold a CEN, CPEN, TCRN, CTRN or CFRN credential.

  Read our Meet the Winner interview with ChristianaCare.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  RWJBarnabas Health Emergency Departments
  Throughout New Jersey
  2022
  Centura Health
  Centennial, CO

  2020
  Life Link III
  Minneapolis, MN

  2019
  Northeast Georgia Health System  
  Gainesville, GA

  2018
  UCHealth Emergency Care  
  Fort Collins, CO

Large Healthcare Organization

• 2024 Winner
  

  Marc and Laura Andreessen Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments at Stanford Health Care

  Stanford, CA

  Stanford Health Care recognizes certified nurses for upholding their professional commitment, nationally validating their clinical expertise, and promoting the highest standards of nursing. The Marc and Laura Andreessen Adult Emergency Department has a record-breaking 168 certified nurses, 131 of which are certified by BCEN, thanks to dozens of programs, daily practices and resources that encourage, support and recognize RNs committed to specialty excellence.

  Read our Meet the Winner interview with the Marc and Laura Andreessen Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments at Stanford Health Care.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital
  Roanoke, VA

  2022
  Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital Emergency Center
  Houston, TX

  2021
  Yale New Haven Hospital
  New Haven, CT

  2020
  University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital   
  Plattsburg, NY

  2019
  Oak Hill Hospital  
  Brooksville, FL

  2018
  Chilton Medical Center 
  Pompton Plains, NJ

  2017
  Houston Methodist Hospital System 
  Houston, TX

  2016
  Avera McKennan Hospital Emergency Department
  Sioux Falls, SD

  2015
  Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital EMTC
  Indianapolis, IN

Small Healthcare Organization

• 2024 Winner
  

  Phelps Health Emergency Department

  Rolla, MO

  Phelps Health Hospital is part of Phelps Health, a small health system serving 200,000 residents in south-central Missouri located 1.5 hours from St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia. The organization’s emergency care improvements are driven by a surge in advanced certifications attained by its emergency department nurses.

  For the past few years, only 1 of the 27 full-time emergency nurses in this 240-bed hospital (30 of which are ED beds) was a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN). After boosting educational and financial resources for 2024, that number jumped to 8 (30%) just this spring, with over 55% of ED RNs expected to be CENs by year-end.

  Read our Meet the Winner interview with Phelps Health ED.

• Previous Winners

  2023
  WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital
  Ephrata, PA

  2022
  Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Centennial Emergency Department
  Frisco, TX

  2020
  Childress Regional Medical Center
  Childress, TX

  2019
  Rush Foundation Hospital ED
  Meridian, MS

  2018
  USC Verdugo Hills Hospital
  Glendale, CA

  2017
  Bristol Hospital
  Bristol, CT

  2016
  Angel MedFlight
  Scottsdale, AZ

  2015
  IU Health Saxony Hospital Emergency Department
  Fishers, IN