For the 12th consecutive year, AJCjobs celebrated nurses throughout metro Atlanta and Georgia during the annual Nursing Excellence Awards. But this year, organizers introduced a new honor: the Executive Nursing Leadership Excellence Award, sponsored by Mercer University.

»RELATED: PHOTOS: Celebrating nurses at the Nursing Excellence Awards

The award recognizes a chief nursing officer or chief nursing executive from a metro Atlanta hospital “who demonstrates advocacy, vision and collaboration to improve patient care and the nursing workplace.”

This year, the inaugural award went to Tammy King of the Shepherd Center.

During her 40-plus years at the facility, King has worked her way up the ladder, holding positions as a staff nurse, change nurse and now chief nurse executive. One of her most notable mandates requires all Shepherd Center RN’s to hold a nationally recognized certification. Now 70 percent of the registered nurses there hold a certification.

“If humanity has a face, I dare say it is that of a nurse – and Tammy King and her career are infused with humanity,” said Glenn Prescott, nursing program manager of Shepherd Center.

Want to know more about the ceremony?  Take a look at the highlights below.

A Wrap up video of the Celebrating Nurses Event

»RELATED: ‘Celebrating Nurses’ winner gets a surprise during ceremony

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