The countdown begins now: Healthcare IT News just reached a critical juncture in its Best Hospital IT Departments Awards.

We've locked the doors. The employee survey is officially closed and that means 65 IT shops – out of the nearly 200 initially nominated – have qualified and are in contention to be among our winners. 

More than 5,500 employees made the case that their hospital, rather than fierce competitors or distant rivals, deserves a dozen months of bragging rights.

Best Hospital IT Departments are given to just 25 winners across all size categories, so the fifth annual award-winners are bound to be among the elite – those few that can claim to be the most employee-friendly and IT-savvy in the U.S. healthcare market.

[Related: Take a look at last year's big winners.]

What qualifies a hospital IT department as best? As is so often the case with career satisfaction, there's so much more to it than money. Other notable attributes of past winners include culture, immediate work unit, management and leadership, training, benefits, employee recognition and, well, the perks.

Healthcare IT News honors 5 hospitals in the following categories: small (25 or fewer employees), medium (26-75), large (76-199) and super (200 or more IT staffers).

Employees at the nominated hospitals complete the survey, and then the results are crunched with an analytics algorithm to determine the winners and rank victors accordingly.

This is the start of our awards season – we'll reveal the winners on November 1. In the meantime, take a look at the 65 finalists on the next page.