From calling to career: The AJC honors 2026’s top nurses
For the 21st consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is celebrating 10 of the region’s best nurses and one outstanding nurse leader.
Most of these nurses knew from an early age that they had a burning desire to give back and have parlayed that passion into exemplary careers in a field that requires extraordinary skill, compassion and hard work.
The AJC announced this year’s Celebrating Nurses award winners at a luncheon on May 7 at Curate Event Space in West Midtown. About 600 people attended the event, which is held annually in conjunction with National Nurses Month and the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, considered the founder of modern nursing.
“Nurses serve on the front lines of public health,” said Andrew Morse, publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They are lifesavers, caregivers, and fierce advocates for patients and their families. It’s our great honor to recognize 2026’s Celebrating Nurses honorees.”
Bosses, colleagues, friends and patients are invited annually to nominate nurses who exemplify the best in their profession. Ten of the nominees receive an AJC Nurse Excellence Award, and one is presented with an AJC Nurse Leader Award, presented by Kaiser Permanente.
This year, the AJC received 955 nominations for the Nurse Excellence Awards — nearly 200 more than last year. Another 134 individuals were nominated for the Nurse Leader Award.
The nominees include nurses who fell in love with the profession while caring for a hospitalized loved one or during their own treatment. One nurse waited until her seven children were grown before entering the profession in her 50s. Another recently helped two patients in heart failure find housing and food so they could focus on their health rather than daily hardship.
The awards luncheon was sponsored by Wellstar and featured Jenna Banks, a best-selling author with an inspiring personal story of overcoming adversity in childhood.
The judging panel for this year’s awards included Kyungeh An, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, FAHA, professor, associate dean and chief academic officer at Georgia State University; Claudia Grooms, EdD, MSN, RN, dean of the School of Nursing at Chattahoochee Technical College; Angela Pointer, MS, BSN, RN, AP Solutions President & CEO; Louise Saladino, DNP, MHA, RN, director of operations at Landmark Health; and Jennifer Shepherd, DNP, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, NPD-BC, director of Nursing Practice, Work Environment and Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation for the American Nurses Association.
