Tips for writing a good UHN Excellence Award nomination 2025

Nominating people and teams who make a real difference to our patient care and the way we work, regardless of where they work or volunteer in the hospitals is a great way to recognise their achievements and the support they've given to you or your loved ones. 

Each nomination has a word limit of 200 words, so it’s important to make your nomination stand out. 

Below, we've put together some tips to help make your award nomination the best it can be.

• Think about who you want to nominate and why - you may wish to note down the key points before you start writing the nomination.
• Get to know the award category criteria you are nominating an individual or team for. These are all listed with a brief explanation on the website.

• Please make sure you are nominating your colleague, a volunteer, or team for the best fit category. 

• If you're not sure on which category they fit into, write your nomination first and then go back to see which category suits their achievements.  

• Keep your explanation simple and think about the who, what, where, when and why you want to nominate. Tell us why they deserve the nomination and about the difference they have made to you or a loved one.  

• Where possible link your nomination back to  the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) values and explain how the person or team demonstrated these values  of Courage, Compassion, Accountability, Integrity or Respect  in their work. Please think how they have demonstrated equality and inclusion in the workplace. 

• Write in an easy-to-understand language. Please try to avoid acronyms and make sure it's clear for someone who doesn't know the individual or team, to understand just how special they.  

• Think about the evidence you can give in your nomination and how you can justify your points. Please try not to repeat information or phrases there is limit of 200 words per nomination. 

• Write your submission and then edit it to make sure the key points are covered. It's always good to ask someone else to read the nomination before you submit it. 

• Avoid phrases such as they're a smiley person or they're good at their job as these don't tell us how they've made a difference. Try finding meaningful words in your nomination like determined, respectful, inspirational, teamwork, motivating, empowering. 

• Phrases such as driving for constant improvement, problem solving mindset and overcoming barriers are all impactful ways to explain your nominee and what they have achieved. 

• Don't use the same nomination for multiple people. Make them unique and they are more likely to be noticed. 

• Please include as much information on the individual nominees, a first name and last name, a ward or department, this will help us identify them and enable us to notify them they have been nominated for an award.

Thank you to the Northamptonshire Health Charity for their continued support for the event.