History of the SHNS Sexcellence Award
Since 2008, Sexual Health Nova Scotia has given out the Sexcellence Award to recognize individuals in Nova Scotia who support and lead outstanding work in the field of sexual health promotion and education. Over the past 13 years the award has been presented to doctors, nurses, educators, activists and sexual health champions. These people have joined Sexual Health Nova Scotia in our mission to make positive and accessible sexual health care a reality for all Nova Scotians.
In 2018 we took a little break from presenting the award to reevaluate the process. In the previous years the award had been given to folks from the areas of the province where we had sexual health centres, as those centres knew very well who their community sexual health champions were. We realized that we needed to honour folks from all across the province, and we wanted to do that by launching an open nomination process. In December 2020, despite the overwhelming presence of Covid-19, we were thrilled to present our 2020 Sexcellence Award to winner Shannon Hardy, and special recognition to Lorrie Boutilier. In 2021 we honoured both Tuma Young and Chris Cochrane. Last year, we received a number of great nominations, and chose our fantastic winner – Rachele Manett.
All Sexcellence Award recipients to date:
2008 – Pam Brown
2009 – Ross Blanch
2010 – Debbie Dicks
2011 – Doris Landry
2012 – Lori McCracken
2016 – Gerard Veldhoven
2017 – Ruthie Patriquin & Cathie Penny
2020 – Shannon Hardy & Special Recognition to Lorrie Boutilier
2021 – Tuma Young & Chris Cochrane
2022 – Rachele Manett