The Journal of School Nursing2025, Vol. 41(3) 307–308© The Author(s) 2025Article reuse guidelines:sagepub.com/journals-permissionsDOI: 10.1177/10598405251328159journals.sagepub.com/home/jsn
The Journal of School Nursing (JOSN) and SAGE Publications present two writing awards annually to highlight publications that contribute to school nursing practice. The Journal’s Editor, the Editorial Advisory Board, and the Editorial Panel select the award recipients. Manuscripts published in the February through December issues are eligible for the award.
Each recipient receives $500 and complimentary registration to the National Association of School Nurses Annual Meeting. The awardees are recognized for their achievement at the annual awards ceremony held at the national conference. Acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal is a notable accomplishment, and the awards recognize the authors’ contribution of evidence to school nursing practice, practice, and research.
The JOSN-SAGE Scholarly Writing Award recognizes excellence in writing and contributions to school nursing. The winning manuscript contributes to school nursing by providing research results, evidence for practice or policy development, or a major review of research literature that significantly influences school health policy, improves school nursing practice, or contributes to school health administration and collaboration.
Dr. Anita Moyes, PhD, RN is the winner of the 2025 JOSN-SAGE Scholarly Writing Award for the publication she co-authored with Drs. Shirley McGough and Dianne Wynaden, An untenable burden: Exploring experiences of secondary school nurses who encounter young people with mental health problems. The manuscript was published in the June 2024 issue of the journal (Moyes et al., 2024). Dr. Moyes was interviewed on the JOSN Podcast for this qualitative research study about the anxiety and lack of confidence school nurses expressed regarding the mental health needs of their students (Bergren & Moyes, 2024).
Dr. Moyes is a Lecturer at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. She was a practicing school nurse for almost 20 years and completed her PhD in school nursing in Western Australia in 2020. She is a school nurse researcher with expertise in the mental and psychosocial health of children and young people and the socioecological factors that influence child development and community nursing. She is particularly interested in lifespan development from the prenatal period to young adulthood and how the social and physical environment influences mental health across the lifespan.
The JOSN-SAGE First Publication Award recognizes the writing excellence of a first-time school nurse author. Manuscripts are judged based on their contribution to thought and practice in school nursing and the clarity of the submission. The 2025 JOSN-SAGE First Publication Award winner is Dr. Suzanne Ackers, PhD, RN. Dr. Ackers co-authored the manuscript, Exploring screening practices for child sexual abuse in school settings: An integrative review, with Drs. Alison Colbert, Hannah Fraley, and James Schreiber. The manuscript was published in February 2024 as one of many literature reviews published in the annual special issue of the journal (Ackers et al., 2024). Dr. Ackers is an Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Her research focuses on forensic nursing and the care of victims of violence, abuse, and trauma in youth who attend school. Her research trajectory aims to mitigate the negative health consequences associated with trauma through early recognition. As a former psychiatric nurse and school nurse, she helps school nurses on a state and national level adopt screening and reporting practices to identify and intervene with abused and trafficked students. Dr. Ackers has a long history of academic and research-based collaborations with several school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Her next project is a descriptive cross-sectional study in a North Texas school district to assess employee attitudes related to trauma-informed care and approaches, the first step in becoming a trauma-informed organization. Dr. Ackers earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Abilene Christian University, a Master’s in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University, and a PhD from Duquesne University.
Please congratulate Dr. Anita Moyes and Dr. Suzanne Ackers for their achievement at the awards ceremony at the 2025 National Association of School Nurses Annual Conference in Austin Texas!
Martha Dewey Bergren, PhD, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FASHA, FAANThe Journal of School Nursing
Martha Dewey Bergren https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8655-5418
Ackers, S. M., Colbert, A. M., Fraley, H. E., & Schreiber, J. B. (2024). Exploring screening practices for child sexual abuse in school settings: An integrative review. The Journal of School Nursing, 40(1), 8–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405221112662
Bergren, M. D., & Moyes, A. (2024, June). An untenable burden: Exploring experiences of secondary school nurses who encounter young people with mental health problems. https://sagenursing.libsyn.com/webpage/josn-june-2024-an-untenable-burden-exploring-experiences-of-secondary-school-nurses-who-encounter-young-people-with-mental-health-problems
Moyes, A., McGough, S., & Wynaden, D. (2024). An untenable burden: Exploring experiences of secondary school nurses who encounter young people with mental health problems. The Journal of School Nursing, 40(3), 305–315. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405221088957
