ENA Names Harriet Hawkins 2025 Judith C. Kelleher Award Recipient

ENA’s annual achievement awards recognize exemplary emergency nursing professionals  

 

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (May 28, 2025) – It might sound cliché, but Harriet Hawkins, RN, CCRN, CPN, CPEN, FAEN, didn’t know what to expect when she began her nursing career.

Although she experienced it all firsthand over the last 56 years – teaching pediatric trauma courses internationally, medical mission trips to far corners of the world and four decades with Chicago’s pre-eminent pediatric hospital – Hawkins acknowledges she never expected any of it. Needless to say, an award recognizing a lifetime of committed work was also never on her radar.

On Wednesday, ENA announced Hawkins as the recipient of the 2025 Judith C. Kelleher Award, the association’s most prestigious honor bearing the name of its co-founder.

For Hawkins, of Oak Park, Illinois, her global travels are juxtaposed with 42 years at Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in a wide variety of roles, including her current work as a resuscitation education nursing professional development specialist. Through it all, she never lost sight of her love for pediatric emergency care and its family-centered care approach. She gives back through charitable work in her own community, while continuing to support ENA as a member of the Illinois ENA Council Board of Directors.

“If I had to do it over, I would do it again. I would totally do it again,” Hawkins said of her career as part of an ENA Podcast interview. “I’m so honored that these amazing people think of me like that. I’m just so happy and excited.”

ENA President Ryan Oglesby, PhD, MHA, RN, CEN, CFRN, NEA-BC, marveled at Hawkins’ contributions within the emergency nursing specialty and beyond it.

“Harriet’s career journey represents the essence of what emergency nurses do. Over the course of five decades, she humbly sought new opportunities and, at each turn, she ended up making an immeasurable difference in the lives of countless people – her patients, her peers and communities around the world,” Oglesby said. 

On Wednesday, ENA also announced 13 other individual award recipients, as well as the annual Council Achievement Awards and this year’s Team Awards.

“Every emergency nurse begins their day with an opportunity to change someone’s life. This year’s award recipients have shaped their careers in ways ensure they impact others in meaningful ways – providing the clinical support ED nurses need to deliver care, advocating for their patients and peers, and being valuable members of the communities where they live and work,” Oglesby added.

The 2025 ENA award recipients and other honorees will be recognized during Emergency Nursing 2025 in New Orleans Sept. 17-20:

Behind the Scenes Award:

Jan Turner, MSN, RN, CEN, of Georgia

Clinical Nurse Specialist Award:

Dawn Zakzesky, MSN, RN, CNS-BC, CEN, of Wisconsin

Crisis Response Team Award:

Children’s Mercy Adele Hall Team, of Missouri

Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center ED Team, of Texas

Frank L. Cole Nurse Practitioner Award:

Melanie Gibbons Hallman, DNP, CRNP, CNS, FAAN, FAANP, FAEN, of Alabama

Gail P. Lenehan Advocacy Award:

Danita Mullins, MSN, RN, CEN, of Arkansas

Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives of the Year Award:

Hershaw Davis, Jr., DNP, MBA, RN, of Maryland

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Mary Leblond, MSN, RN, CEN, SANE, FAEN, of Texas

Gwyn Parris-Atwell, DNP, FNP-BC, CEN, FAEN, of New Jersey

Sally Snow, BSN, RN, CPEN, FAEN, of Texas

Nurse Leader Award:

Kristin Malvik, MSN-ED, RN, of Texas

Nurse Researcher Award:

Jane Muir, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, of Pennsylvania

Nursing Competency in Aging Award:

Megan Lundquist, BSN, RN, of Arkansas

Nursing Education Award:

Karen Schill, DNP, APN, FNP-BC, ENP-C, CEN, CFRN, NREMT-P, of New Jersey

Pediatric Readiness Improvement Award:

Sara Daykin, DNP, RN, CPEN, TCRN, FAEN, of New Mexico

Council/Chapter Government Affairs Award:

California ENA Government Affairs Committee

Texas ENA Council

Wisconsin ENA Council

Team Awards: 

Indiana ENA Forensics Committee

Jefferson East Emergency Department Education Team, of New Jersey

Texas ENA Conference Planning Committee

In addition to the individual honors, 10 states – Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin – received 2025 Council Achievement Awards for their outstanding local efforts last year.

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