For the past few months, we have been blogging on the pioneering nurse leaders featured in our photo-driven “Day in the Life of an Academic Geriatric Nurse” annual report honoring the 10th anniversary of our Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) Initiative.

We have done so for a few reasons: because we are proud of these BAGNC nurses and because quite frankly, the annual report rocks. It does so because of the amazing photos and the clear, compelling text. Both tell our nursing stories in a creative format to educate, inform, and inspire others.

I can shamelessly brag about the report (along with my annual report colleagues, Marcus Escobedo and Frank Doll) because we had the fun role of “managing” and “overseeing” the process. The people that did the heavy lifting were writer Lynne Christensen, photographer/designer Don Battershall, and photographer Will Mebane.

These three crafted an innovative, eye-catching report. They took our vision and made it into something beautiful and powerful. For this, we at the Hartford Foundation thank Lynne, Don, and Will.

And now we have another reason to be grateful to our behind-the-scenes annual report team:

In July 2011, the BAGNC annual report won a Gold Award in the Vision Award Annual Report Competition sponsored by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). This is the largest annual report competition; this year, LACP boasted over 5,000 entries from around the globe. Our annual report was praised as being among the best within the industry. We received an overall score of 96/100 on such measures as message clarity, creativity, first impression, and report narrative.

Overall, LACP described the report as “remarkable” with “terrific images” and “clarity in communicating our message.” They lauded our “accessibility to key information sought by readers” as “outstanding.”

Once again, we are beaming. Our quest to produce a successful annual report has been validated by our readers and now by a Gold Vision Award. Thanks for translating our vision, Lynne, Don, and Will!

Here’s to next year’s report!