Jeanette Bair Writer’s Award

The Jeanette Bair writer's award was established by the Association Executive Board in 1999 to honor the high standards and innovative thinking of Jeanette Bair, who served as executive director for 12 years of her 21 years of service to the Association.

 This award recognizes the author(s) of a feature article in OT Practice that inspires occupational therapy practitioners to use their management and leadership skills to create better access to occupational therapy services and to promote the profession.

Description and purpose

  • Established by the Association Executive Board in 1999 to honor the high standards and innovative thinking of Jeanette Bair, who served as the Association Executive Director for 12 of her 21 years of employment with the Association.
  • To recognize the author(s) of a feature article in OT Practice that inspires occupational therapy practitioners to use management and leadership skills to improve access to services and promote the profession.

Minimal requirements

  • Author(s) shall include a least one OT or OTA member of the Association in good standing.
  • Article shall have been published as a feature article in OT Practice during the calendar year prior to the award date.

Criteria for selection

  • The article must be published in OT Practice.
  • The article must be a feature.
  • The subject matter of the article should inspire occupational therapy practitioners to use their management and leadership skills to create better access to OT services and to promote the profession.
  • The author(s) must be an OT or OTA and a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).
  • The article must be timely and present original ideas.
  • The writing must be clear, concise, readable, and powerful.
  • The author(s) must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topic and, where appropriate, thorough research.

Selection procedure

  • For the first round, the Editor of OT Practice selects six articles and sends them to the Director of Communications and Publications and the Assistant Director of Communications and Media to rank in order of preference.
  • The Editor narrows the list to three, which they send to the Special Interest Section Chairs, the VP of Strategic Communications and Marketing, and the Chief Officer of Knowledge to rank. The winner is given the award.

Specific information regarding award

  • One award may be given each year by the OT Practice Editorial Board.

Previous recipients

The following AOTA members have been awarded the Jeanette Bair Writer's Award.