Awards We've Received | About Us :: Childbirth Connection

American College of Nurse-Midwives Organizational Partner Award (2010)

The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) board of directors awarded Childbirth Connection its inaugural Organizational Partner Award on June 13, 2010, at the 55th annual ACNM meeting in Washington, DC. This award honors organizations carrying out exemplary work benefiting women’s health, maternity care, and midwifery. It recognizes the value of partnerships between organizations with complementary missions for achieving results for women and families. Specifically, the inaugural award honors Childbirth Connection for championing evidence-based maternity care practices and improved maternity care quality measurement, and for excellence in its Transforming Maternity Care project.

The mission of ACNM is to promote the health and well-being of women and infants within their families and communities through the development and support of the profession of midwifery as practiced by certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives.

Learn more sbout the Transforming Maternity Care project

Advocacy and Public Education Mothers Naturally Award (2009)

Mothers Naturally awarded Childbirth Connection its 2009 Advocacy and Public Education Mothers Naturally Award at the 2009 Midwives Alliance annual conference. The award recognizes Childbirth Connection's work providing evidence-based information about birth care to consumers.

Mothers Naturally is a public education program from the Midwives Alliance of North America. The goal of Mothers Naturally is to increase the number of safe and positive births by educating and informing the public about natural birth options and empowering women to make pregnancy and birth choices appropriate for their lives.

DONA International Research Award (2007)

DONA International presented Childbirth Connection with its 2007 John Kennell and Marshall Klaus Doula Spirit Award for Research at its annual meeting in July 2007. The award recognizes Childbirth Connection's second national Listening to Mothers survey, which provides an unprecedented level of understanding about many dimensions of the maternity experience in the United States. Childbirth Connection's Executive Director, Maureen Corry, presented Listening to Mothers II survey results in a general session at the meeting.

Listening to Mothers II explored experiences of women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals in 2005 and was carried out in partnership with Lamaze International. It built upon Childbirth Connection's landmark first national U.S. survey of women's childbearing experiences (2002). Both surveys were conducted with the assistance of Harris Interactive and with the guidance of National Advisory Councils that included representatives from leading national organizations involved with maternal and child health. The surveys are a part of Childbirth Connection's ongoing Listening to Mothers Initiative, which helps ensure that women's needs and experiences are used to shape maternity, programs and services.

Learn more about Listening to Mothers

Fit Pregnancy Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting Award (2007)

To celebrate their 15th anniversary, the first Fit Pregnancy Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting Awards honor the people, products and organizations that are making a positive impact on the lives of babies and parents.

Childbirth Connection received a Preggie Award in the "Groups We Love" category. From Fit Pregnancy: "Aimed at improving maternity care for all women, Childbirth Connection works to bridge the gap between the care new mothers and babies actually receive and the care they should receive. The organization helps pregnant women gain access to accurate information about their maternity options and teaches them how to navigate the health care system and understand their rights as patients."

Web Award Standard of Excellence in Health Care and Non-Profit (2006)

Childbirth Connection is a proud recipient of a Health Care Standard of Excellence and a Non-Profit Standard of Excellence from the Web Marketing Association. We received high marks in Content, Copywriting and Ease of Use.

The Web Marketing Association was founded in 1997 to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and web development on the World Wide Web. Staffed by volunteers, this organization is made up of Internet marketing, online advertising, PR, and web site design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of online advertising, internet marketing, and website promotion.

The Web Marketing Association is the producer of the WebAward Competition. The WebAwards is the premier annual web site award competition that names the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.

World Wide Web Health Award (2006)

The World Wide Web Health Awards is a program that recognizes the best Web-based health-related content for consumers and professionals. The program is held twice a year with the goal of providing a "seal of quality" for electronic health information.

The World Wide Web Health Awards is organized by the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), a national clearinghouse for consumer health information programs and materials. It is judged by a panel of international health information and Internet experts. They judge entries based on accuracy, success in reaching the targeted audience and overall quality.

National Women's Health Network's "Honor 30 for the 30th" (2005)

The National Women's Health Network (NWHN) recognized Director of Programs Carol Sakala as a women's health activist who has made unique contributions to advocacy, information and policy on behalf of childbearing women.

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, NWHN honored 30 activists for their essential work in women's health. Individually, these activists have created and inspired work to improve women's health over the last 30-plus years. Their work transformed the experience of women's health, and continues to do so today. They include individuals who worked alone -- before the women's health movement came into being -- as well as those who formed groups, collectives, and partnerships -- including some of the earliest organizations which, along with the Network, were the linchpins of the movement.

Doulas of North America Research Award (2003)

Doulas of North America (DONA) presented Childbirth Connection (then known as Maternity Center Association) with its first John Kennell and Marshall Klaus Doula Spirit Award for Research at DONA's annual meeting in July, 2003. The award recognizes Childbirth Connection's historic Listening to Mothers survey, which enables a new level of understanding about many dimensions of the maternity experience in the United States.

Listening to Mothers was the first survey of women's childbearing experiences at the national level in the U.S. Childbirth Connection conducted this survey in 2002 with the assistance of Harris Interactive. The survey was carried out with the guidance of the Listening to Mothers National Advisory Council, which included representatives from leading national organizations involved with maternal and child health. Professor Eugene Declercq chaired this Council and was the lead author of the survey report (PDF). The survey is a part of Childbirth Connection's ongoing Listening to Mothers Initiative, which helps ensure that women's needs and experiences are used to shape maternity policies, programs and services.

Learn more about Listening to Mothers

The Koko Roy Award (2002)

The New York University Midwifery Alliance presented Executive Director Maureen Corry with the first annual Koko Roy Award on April 26th, 2002. The Koko Roy Award recognizes an individual who has contributed significantly to women's health as an advocate, one who values community relationships, shows cultural competency, is a visionary who offers a down-to-earth approach and displays creative innovation.

Koko Roy, a certified nurse-midwife, was born in India as Asoka Roy (affectionately called Koko). Koko was educated in India, England and the USA and made a significant contribution to midwifery care. Her career includes assisting births, such as twins in the mud-huts of war-torn reaches of India when medical assistance was unavailable, to being a pioneer midwife in New York City in 1968, where she established the first Midwifery Program at Beth Israel Hospital. Koko devoted her life to the care of mothers and babies and toward the improvement of her profession.

Lamaze International Research Award (2001)

Lamaze International presented Childbirth Connection (then known as Maternity Center Association) with its Research Award at the childbirth education group's annual meeting in October, 2001. The award recognizes Childbirth Connection's program called Maternity Wise, which helps ensure that maternity care decisions are informed by the best available research.

Presenters made special note of Childbirth Connection's labor pain initiative. In May, 2001, Childbirth Connection held "The Nature and Management of Labor Pain: An Evidence-based Symposium." Those present at this multi-disciplinary invitational meeting heard and discussed rigorous reviews of the best available research about labor pain, including benefits and risks of various methods for labor pain relief. Several Lamaze leaders who attended the symposium featured data and issues from the symposium in educational sessions at the Lamaze meeting and encouraged childbirth educators to consider the symposium papers as a core childbirth education resource. The peer-reviewed papers were published as a special supplement to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in May, 2002.

Learn more about Childbirth Connection's Labor Pain Initiative