2026 Award finalists

Activist of the Year Award

Proudly supported by Nurse Midwife Health Program Australia

Kay Hammond – Clinical Midwife, Toowoomba Hospital

Kay Hammond has spent more than two decades showing up for the people in her care – first as an intensive care nurse, then as a midwife, and now as a union advocate committed to creating workplaces where colleagues feel genuinely supported.

Lorraine Rock – Enrolled Nurse, Proserpine Nursing Home

Lorraine Rock has devoted more than five decades to nursing, with the past 39 years dedicated entirely to aged care at Proserpine Nursing Home – a workplace she has fought fiercely to protect.

Shirley Nield – Clinical Nurse, Gold Coast University Hospital

Shirley Neild is a Clinical Nurse at Gold Coast University Hospital whose commitment to advocacy, cultural inclusion, and collective leadership extends well beyond the walls of her workplace.

Proudly supported by Great Southern Bank

Bundaberg Base Hospital Branch

The Bundaberg Base Hospital Branch has undergone a significant resurgence over the past 18 months, emerging as a stronger, more unified, and more effective advocate for its members.

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Nurses Branch

As Queensland’s largest QNMU branch, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Nurses Branch represents more than 3,000 members across RBWH, the wider Herston Campus, and multiple satellite hospitals extending as far as Bribie Island.

Sunshine Coast Community Mental Health Branch

The Sunshine Coast Community Mental Health Branch has distinguished itself as a model of inclusive, connected, and effective union representation across a challenging and geographically dispersed network of four sites and twelve teams.

Proudly supported by HESTA

Madeline Ford, Senior Academic Lead, Allied Health and Nursing, Murtupuni Centre for Rural and Remote Health

Madeline Ford is a proud Bigambul and Darkinjung woman whose nursing and midwifery career has taken her from critical care and aeromedical retrieval to remote First Nations clinics – and now into academia, where she is channelling a lifetime of experience into shaping the future of rural and remote healthcare. 

Ruth Blunderfield, Registered Nurse, Toowoomba Hospital

Ruth Blunderfield is a Gubbi Gubbi woman and Registered Nurse whose approach to care is rooted in culture, community, and an unwavering respect for every person she serves.

Proudly supported by QSuper

Emily Ebbage Miller, Registered Nurse, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Emergency and Trauma Centre

Emily Ebbage Miller began her nursing career as a rural generalist at Stanthorpe Hospital, where the breadth and pace of clinical practice demanded adaptability, critical thinking, and decisive action across emergency and perioperative settings, often within the same shift.

Katherine Wickson, Multicultural Nurse Navigator, Logan Hospital

Katherine Wickson’s path to nursing was shaped by lived experience, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for culture and connection. Having spent much of her childhood and adolescence managing chronic illness, life-changing surgery in her early twenties opened the door to a nursing career she had not previously imagined possible.

Natasha Keir, Nurse Practitioner, GenesisCare Oncology Queensland

Natasha Keir is a Nurse Practitioner in Breast Oncology with GenesisCare Queensland, recognised for her pioneering work in survivorship care and her commitment to advancing holistic, patient-centred models of support for people with breast cancer.

Proudly supported by Nurse and Midwife Health

Kate Dousi, Acting Clinical Midwife, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital

Kate Dousi’s journey into midwifery began with a scholarship through the Rural Private Midwifery Education Project at Griffith University, which took her to Toowoomba for two years of placement with My Midwives. It was there that she developed the fierce advocacy for women and families that has defined her practice ever since.

Lorraine Woods, Endorsed Midwife, Weipa Integrated Health Service

Lorraine Woods is an Endorsed Midwife with extensive experience dedicated to clinical practice, leadership, and service to some of Queensland’s most underserved communities.

Ruby Guminski, Registered Midwife, Toowoomba Hospital

Ruby Guminski relocated from the city to a regional hospital as a new graduate and has built a career grounded in continuity, relationships, and genuine woman-centred care.