Announcing WeAreTheCity’s Top 100 Rising Star Awards 2017

The Rising Star awards recognise the achievements of women who are below Senior Management or Director level and therefore represent the female talent pipeline and the next generation of future leaders.

We are proud to announce that nominations for our 2017 Rising Star awards open on 01 February.

In previous years, the awards have been supported by an array of FTSE sponsors and this year is no different. We are proud to announce that this year’s award headline sponsors are The Times and The Sunday Times.

“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 excited to be a part of this unique awards programme that shines the spotlight on the achievements of women across so many different industries. 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”

– Chris Duncan, Managing Director, Times Newspapers Ltd

The Rising Star awards are also supported by Aon, Barclays, Bloomberg, Citi, CRUK, EY, Keir, Lloyd’s, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, Oliver Wyman, Societe Generale, Streets Consulting, Worldpay and 3M. Additional sponsors and categories will be announced throughout January.

Through WeAreTheCity’s Rising Star awards, and with the support of all our sponsors, WeAreTheCity will add to their alumni of 200 award winners by recognising the achievements of an additional 150 women and an additional 10 champions in the UK and India during 2017.

By highlighting the accolades of inspirational female talent, WeAreTheCity hopes to encourage organisations and business leaders to invest in and recognise women as leaders of tomorrow and individual contributors within their respective industries.

Vanessa Vallely, Founder and CEO of WeAreTheCity, said: “I am very excited to launch our 2017 Rising Star awards and to be once again 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. I am very proud that this number will rise to 350 in 2017 and am looking forward to welcoming the next cohort of winners to WeAreTheCity’s Rising Star family.”

Recognising that careers for women may follow different timescales, the Rising Star awards do not have any age restrictions included within the criteria. 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 leadership positions and key decision-making roles within our organisations.

Alongside our Rising Star categories and Rising Star Champion award, we are also pleased to announce a new award for 2017 – Company of the Year. This award recognises the achievements of a company who can clearly demonstrate that they are actively supporting its female talent pipeline through their initiatives, training, development programmes and internal employee relations and diversity network groups.

The nominations process for all 20 categories, our Rising Star Champions and Company of the Year award will open on 01 February 2017. Nominations will take place online via the Rising Stars website. For details of the criteria to enter the awards, visit here.

Categories included in the 2017 Rising Star awards are as follows:

• Rising Stars in Banking, sponsored by Societe Generale
• Rising Stars in Charity, sponsored by CRUK
• Rising Stars in Consulting, sponsored by EY
• Rising Stars in Defence, sponsored by Royal Navy
• Rising Stars in Diversity, sponsored by Aon
• Rising Stars in Education & Academia, sponsored by EDIT Development
• Rising Stars in Entrepreneurs, sponsored by Citi
• Rising Stars in Facilities Management, sponsor TBA
• Rising Stars in Fintech, sponsored by Streets Consulting
• Rising Stars in HR & Recruitment, sponsored by LinkedIn
• 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 PAs and EAs, sponsor TBA
• Rising Stars in Property and Construction, sponsored by Kier
• 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
• Additional category, TBA

The awards are also supported by Bloomberg who will host our shortlist winners celebrations in June 2017.

Awards Timeline

• Nominations open: 01 Feb 17
• Nominations close: 24 Mar 17
• First round Judging period: 03 – 28 Apr 17
• Shortlist announced and public vote*: 15 May 17
• Finalist judging period: 15 May – 09 Jun 17
• Shortlist celebration event: 08 Jun 17
• Public voting closes: 09 Jun 17
• Winners announced: 19 Jun 17
• Winners event: w/c 12 Jul 17

If you have any additional questions about the awards, please contact Info@wearethecity.com. For details of entry criteria, please visit here

* There is no public vote of support for the Champion of the year or Company of the year award