2024 Call for entries - CLOSED
The entry period for our fourteenth annual AHF Awards has closed. Learn more about our past winners below. 2024 Award Winners will be notified in late May. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Bennett – sbennett@healthcarefoodservice.org.
Awards Categories
Lifetime Achievement Award – This award is the Association’s highest honor, recognizing individuals who have made significant and enduring contributions to the field of self-operated healthcare foodservice, demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment to the core values of AHF. It recognizes operator members who best exemplify the leadership and spirit of Jacques Bloch and Angelo Gagliano the founders of our legacy organizations. Those who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to AHF, the healthcare foodservice profession, their employers, the community, and the embodiment of AHF’s values.
Exemplary Leadership Award – This award will be bestowed upon the operator member who best reflects the commitment to operational excellence that Don Marsh brought to healthcare foodservice. Don Marsh, former president of the American Society for Healthcare Food Service Administrators (ASHFSA), was a longtime supporter of programs to raise professionalism of operators in the healthcare foodservice industry and was known to contribute generously in these areas. The award recognizes exemplary member contributions in their operations as well as to regional, local chapters or networking meetings.
Future Horizon Award – This award recognizes self-operator members with 1-5 years of management experience who have demonstrated exceptional leadership potential and the ability to implement strategic plans that positively impact their hospital and community.
Partnership in Leadership Award – This award recognizes an operator and an administrator (non-foodservice) who have demonstrated a strong commitment to nutritional food service by self-operation and currently support the foodservice director or foodservice administrative director. This award celebrates the power of collaboration and the impact that can be achieved when two individuals work together to improve patient care and outcomes.
Spotlight Award – This award recognizes operator members who have enhanced operations through new ideas and industry trends. This may include implementing new technologies, program development, innovative ideas, projects or initiatives that promote sustainability, community impact initiatives, mergers/acquisitions, and/or creative use of managing finances.
Sustainability Award – This award recognizes an operator member who demonstrates exceptional leadership in waste reduction, sustainability, and environmental stewardship. Winners have implemented and expanded innovative and creative programs focused on reduction of single use disposables, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, locally sourced food (such as the Good Food Purchasing Program), energy conservation, food donation programs, food waste reduction, composting and recycling, water conservation, educating consumers, and more.
Benchmarking Award of Excellence – This award recognizes a healthcare facility for their exceptional use of AHF Benchmarking EXPRESS™ to improve operations, patient care, and more, demonstrated by consistent use, KPI improvement, and innovative data use.
Chapter of the Year Award – This award recognizes an AHF Local Chapter that demonstrates exceptional commitment to the Association’s mission of providing a professional network, resources, and tools to promote self-operated foodservice and hospitality in healthcare, senior dining, and related industries.
notes & Rules
- – This competition is open only to self-operated healthcare foodservice facilities/AHF Operator Members.
- – A nominee may only win in ONE category. Please select the category that best aligns with your nomination. Multiple submissions of a single project in multiple categories are discouraged.
- – Our Awards Committee compare the criteria outlined on the submission pages to the actual submissions. Directly address the questions to improve your odds of placing.
- – The Awards Committee are free to reject any entry that does not meet basic criteria outlined on the submissions page. The Awards Committee may also choose to move an entry from one category to another if they feel it’s a better fit.
- – Judging will occur in April and the award winners will be notified via email.
- – Award winners will be highlighted at our Annual Conference and featured in the 2025 issues of SO Connected.