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Now Accepting Nominations for the Inaugural CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award
Behind every standard we set, every certification we grant, and every new frontier we explore, there are people. There are tens of thousands of dedicated, innovative, and compassionate pharmacy professionals who take their validated expertise and translate it into a tangible, positive impact on the world around them.
Within our vibrant community of over 6,000 certificants, there are countless stories of leadership and excellence. There is the medication safety officer who designed a new system that prevented countless errors. There is the 340B coordinator whose meticulous work saved their hospital millions, allowing for the expansion of critical patient services. There is the ambulatory care specialist who built a new clinical service from the ground up, changing the lives of their chronic disease patients.
For too long, these stories of exceptional achievement have been the quiet, unsung victories of our profession. Today, the Council on Pharmacy Standards (CPS) is committed to changing that.
We are incredibly proud and excited to launch the Inaugural CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award. This prestigious annual honor is designed to recognize and celebrate a CPS-certified professional who not only demonstrates mastery in their specialty but who masterfully applies that expertise to drive meaningful, innovative, and impactful change.
The Spirit of the Award: What is Pharmacy Excellence?
The CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, it is designed to honor a specific, tangible impact made by a certified professional within the last one to two years. We are seeking to recognize the innovators, the problem-solvers, and the servant leaders who look at a complex challenge in their practice and ask, “How can we do this better?”
This award celebrates the translation of certified knowledge into real-world results. It seeks to honor an individual who has leveraged their specialized, validated skills to significantly improve patient outcomes, enhance medication safety, create new efficiencies in pharmacy operations, or advance the profession in a demonstrable way. The honoree will be a professional who exemplifies the highest ideals of our shared commitment to excellence and who inspires those around them to aim higher.
Nomination Criteria: The Profile of an Honoree
To guide the nomination process, our Awards Selection Committee has established five key criteria that define the profile of our ideal honoree. Nominees will be evaluated on the basis of their demonstrated achievements across these domains.
Eligibility:
The nominee must be an active CPS certificant in good standing.
Nominations must be submitted by a professional colleague; self-nominations are not permitted.
Evaluation Criteria:
Demonstrated Impact: The nominee must have led or played a pivotal role in a project, initiative, or new service that resulted in a significant, measurable, and positive impact. Examples include, but are not limited to: improved clinical outcomes for a patient population, a quantifiable reduction in medication errors, significant and documented cost savings or revenue enhancement, or the successful implementation of a new technology that improved patient care.
Innovation and Creativity: The nominee should have applied their specialized knowledge in a novel or creative way to solve a complex problem. This could involve developing a new clinical workflow, creating a unique patient education program, or using data in a new way to drive practice change.
Leadership and Mentorship: The nominee is recognized by their peers as a leader, regardless of their formal title. They serve as a role model and mentor to colleagues, students, or residents, actively working to elevate the skills and professional practice of those around them.
Commitment to the Profession: The nominee actively contributes to the broader pharmacy community beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. This may include activities such as presenting their work at state or national conferences, publishing in professional journals, or volunteering for professional organizations.
Embodiment of the CPS Code of Ethics: The nominee consistently demonstrates the highest standards of integrity, compassion, and professionalism, serving as a living example of the CPS Code of Ethics in action.
How to Nominate a Deserving Colleague
If you know a CPS-certified professional whose work has inspired you and whose impact deserves to be celebrated on a national stage, we strongly encourage you to nominate them. The process is straightforward.
Complete the Online Nomination Form: Please visit our awards portal [link here] to fill out the official nomination form with the nominee’s and your contact information.
Submit a Letter of Nomination: The core of the nomination is a detailed letter (maximum of 1,000 words) that tells the nominee’s story. This letter should specifically address the evaluation criteria listed above, providing concrete examples and data where possible to illustrate the nominee’s achievements.
Provide Optional Supporting Documentation: While not required, you may upload up to three supporting documents, such as letters of support from other colleagues or patients, abstracts or publications, or data summaries from a project.
The deadline for all nominations for the Inaugural CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award is September 15, 2025.
Selection Process and Award Presentation
All nominations will undergo a rigorous review by the CPS Awards Selection Committee. This is an independent panel composed of distinguished national pharmacy leaders, esteemed academics, and past members of the CPS Board of Directors to ensure an impartial and expert-driven selection process.
The award recipient will be privately notified in October 2025, with a public announcement to follow on our CPS News Hub. The award will be formally presented at a special reception during a major national pharmacy conference in December.
Honoring Our Winner
To properly recognize the exceptional achievement of the award recipient, CPS is proud to offer a comprehensive prize package:
The engraved CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award trophy.
A $2,500 personal honorarium.
A travel stipend to attend the national conference for the award presentation ceremony.
An invitation to be a featured speaker in a special CPS National Webinar, providing a platform to share their award-winning work with thousands of their peers.
A $5,000 donation made by CPS in the recipient’s name to a U.S. college of pharmacy or a pharmacy-related charitable organization of their choice.
Shine a Light on Excellence
Look around at your colleagues, your mentors, and the leaders in your institution. Who inspires you? Who is quietly changing the practice of pharmacy for the better? This is your opportunity to shine a national spotlight on their incredible work.
Nominate a leader for the Inaugural CPS Pharmacy Excellence Award today.
