Nominations are now open for the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Awards 2017, recognising the UK’s female talent pipeline below management level. For the third year running, these highly successful awards will celebrate 100 individual female contributors who represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow. These individuals will join an alumni of 200 previous winners from 2015/2016 across the UK and India.
The 2017 awards are headline sponsored by The Times and The Sunday Times. Category sponsors include an array of leading FTSE 100 companies and industry leaders, including Aon, Barclays, Bloomberg, Citi, CR-UK, EY, EDIT Development, Executive Secretary, GDS, Kier, Lloyd’s, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, PedalSure, Reed Smith, Oliver Wyman, Societe Generale, Streets Consulting, Worldpay and 3M.
Awards categories include:
- Rising Stars in Banking, sponsored by Societe Generale
- Rising Stars in Charity, sponsored by Cancer Research UK
- Rising Stars in Construction, sponsor TBC
- Rising Stars in Consulting, sponsored by EY
- Rising Stars in Defence, sponsor TBC
- Rising Stars in Diversity, sponsored by Aon
- Rising Stars EA and PA, sponsored by Executive Secretary
- Rising Stars in Education & Academia, sponsored by EDIT Development
- Rising Stars in Entrepreneurs, sponsored by Citi
- Rising Stars in Fintech, sponsored by Streets Consulting
- Rising Stars in HR and Recruitment, Sponsor TBC
- Rising Stars in Insurance, sponsored by Lloyd’s
- Rising Stars in Investment Management, sponsored by Northern Trust
- Rising Stars in Law (The Lynne Freeman Award), sponsored by Reed Smith
- Rising Stars in Property and Facilities Management, sponsored by Kier
- Rising Stars in Public Sector, sponsored by Government Digital Services
- Rising Stars in Science and Engineering, sponsored by 3M
- Rising Stars in Sales, sponsored by Worldpay
- Rising Stars in Sport, sponsored by PedalSure
- Rising Stars in Technology, sponsored by Morgan Stanley
- Rising Stars Champions, sponsored by Oliver Wyman
- Rising Stars Company of the Year Award sponsored by Barclays
The awards are also supported by Bloomberg, who will host the shortlist winners’ celebrations in June 2017.
Click HERE to nominate someone for an award.
WeAreTheCity is also proud to announce the Company of the Year award, a new category for 2017. The award recognises the achievements of a company who can clearly demonstrate that they are actively supporting and developing their female talent pipeline through initiatives, training, development programmes and/or internal employee relations groups.
The awards are once again looking for Rising Star Champions, which acknowledges the efforts of both male and female senior leaders who are supporting the pipeline outside of their corporate responsibilities.
Nominations will take place online at risingstars.wearethecity.com, with a shortlist of 10 women chosen by a judging panel published 15 May, followed by an open public vote. The Top 100 Rising Stars winners will be announced 19 June followed by a celebratory evening reception at News UK’s HQ, taking place on 12 July.
Founded in 2015, the awards continue to play a vital part in highlighting female talent across the country. Recognising that careers for women may follow different timescales, the Rising Star awards do not have any age restrictions. WeAreTheCity feels it has a responsibility to ensure that female talent, regardless of age and background, receives the necessary support and skills to transition into key decision-making roles within our organisations. WeAreTheCity will use its extensive reach across the UK and Ireland to find 100 high-achieving women across key industries and professions.
Chris Duncan, Managing Director of Times Newspapers Ltd said: “We are delighted to support WeAreTheCity as the headline sponsor for their Rising Star Awards in 2017. Building and supporting a strong pipeline of female talent is a key area of focus at The Times and The Sunday Times. We are honoured to be involved and look forward to working alongside so many other organisations who are as passionate about gender equality as we are.”
Supporter of the awards Caroline Dinenage, Minister for Women, Equalities and Early Years said: “I am proud to support the Rising Stars Awards, which are a great way to celebrate the pipeline of fantastic female talent who are smashing the glass ceiling. These awards shine a light on rising stars from all walks of life who are significantly contributing to their organisations and inspiring the next generation.
“We have made fantastic progress in recent years – we now have the lowest gender pay gap on record, have more than doubled the number of women on boards in the FTSE 350 and we’ve been rated the best place in Europe for women to start a business. But we have to push further to achieve true gender equality, and celebrating the achievements of women through these awards take us one step closer to this.”
Vanessa Vallely, Founder and CEO of WeAreTheCity said: “I am very excited to open nominations for our 2017 Rising Star awards. It is fantastic to be working with The Times and The Sunday Times and to once again be working with a variety of companies who are actively supporting the gender agenda. With their help over the past three years, we have shone a spotlight on 200 amazing women alongside a number of senior gender champions who are passionate about equality. This year we will recognise the achievements of a further 150 future female leaders across a multitude of industries within the UK and India. We know that highlighting the achievements of these women, leads to action and opportunities. Over 25% of our previous winners have since been promoted or taken on additional responsibilities since winning the Rising Star awards. It is going to be a great year for our next cohort of Rising Stars and I am excited to see all the nominations coming through.”
