GUIDANCE & CRITERIA
Now in its eleventh year, the Rising Star Awards are the first to focus on the UK’s female talent pipeline below management level.
Our strategic goal, set in 2015, aims to showcase 1,000 outstanding women by 2025. By highlighting the accolades of these women, WeAreTheCity are not only promoting the amazing female talent that exists across the UK, but actively encouraging organisations and business leaders to invest in and recognise these women as leaders of tomorrow and individual contributors to their respective industries.
These awards will recognise and celebrate a further 100 female individual contributors from over 20 different industries that represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow. These winners will join our award’s alumni of 950 previous winners, across the UK and India.
Alongside these categories, we are also calling for nominations for Champions, Global Award for Achievement, Men for Gender Balance and a Company of the Year.
Our Champion award recognises the achievements of five senior individuals, of any gender, who are actively supporting the female pipeline inside or outside of their organisation. Nominations for this award are individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to gender, e.g. HeForShe supporters, network leaders, directors, MD’s & C-Suite individuals who are championing women either inside or outside their organisations.
Our Global Award for Achievement category is for a female individual who works within any industry, outside of the UK, whose current position is below director level.
Our Men for Gender Balance award recognises the achievements of five senior men who are championing women and gender balance either inside or outside their organisation. Nominees must be at least Director level (or equivalent) or above, must demonstrate that they have actively supported the female pipeline either through their current work role or external activities and must be working in the UK.
The Company of the Year 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.
We are proud to announce that in 2025, we will add to our existing Rising Star award winner alumni of 950 women by recognising the achievements of an additional 100 women, five champions, five men for gender balance, five global award for achievement and a company of the year, in the UK throughout 2024.
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 additionally, as individual contributors within their respective industries.
The Rising Star awards are open for nominations from 13 January 2025.
We are accepting five types of nominations for this year's Rising Star Awards:
Rising Star Individual
A female individual who works within one of the categories whose current position is below director level
Rising Star Champion
A senior individual of any gender who is championing gender equality either inside or outside their organisation
Rising Star Company
A company that clearly articulates their commitment to supporting their female talent pipeline
Rising Star Men for Gender Balance
A senior man who is championing women and gender balance either inside or outside their organisation.
Rising Star Global Award for Achievement
A female individual from outside the UK, across any industry, whose current position is below director level
Nominating an individual, an individual for the Global Award for Achievement, Champion, Men for Gender Balance or a Company is straightforward. Simply tell us why you believe the individual/company you are nominating deserves a Rising Star award. Before nominating, please ensure you have checked your entry against the criteria set out below and viewed our terms and conditions.
• Open to all women regardless of age
• Nominees must be below senior management level (e.g. below Director level)
• Nominees must be working within the industry of the category for which they are nominated
• Nominees must be working in the UK (with the exception of the Global Award for Achievement and ESG category)
• Someone who is or who has the potential to be a role model in their business or sector
• Someone who strives to achieve success and results
• Someone who gives back or inspires others
• Someone who is recognised by others as having the potential to become a future leader in their industry
• Open to all genders
• Nominees must be Director level (or equivalent) or above
• Nominees must demonstrate that they have actively supported the female pipeline either through their current work role or external activities
• Nominees must be working in the UK
• Open to all UK-based companies
• Company must be able to provide evidence of gender-based initiatives that have successfully supported and developed their female talent pipeline
- A senior man who is championing women and gender balance either inside or outside their organisation.
- Nominees must be at least Director level (or equivalent) or above
- Nominees must demonstrate that they have actively supported the female pipeline either through their current work role or external activities and must be working in the UK.
• Someone outside of the UK
• Someone who is or who has the potential to be a role model in their business or sector
• Someone who strives to achieve success and results
• Someone who gives back or inspires others
• Someone who is recognised by others as having the potential to become a future leader in their industry
Once a nomination is submitted, the nominee will be sent a series of questions by the WeAreTheCity team to respond to (including supplying any supporting information requested) by the closing date (see below). If the supporting documentation is not received by this deadline, WeAreTheCity will be unable to process the nomination and the entry will be void.
Once nominations have closed, all completed entries will be sent to our first round of judges. Once the judging has concluded, WeAreTheCity will publish the shortlist on to the Rising Star website and via our social media channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Facebook.
The shortlist will consist of ten women from each industry category, ten from the Champion category, and ten from the Men for Gender Balance, category ten from the Global Award for Achievement category, alongside three shortlisted companies for the Company of the Year award.
Once the shortlist is announced, we will also open the public votes of support, which enables individuals to show their support for a specific shortlisted individual. It is entirely up to the nominee if they wish to call for public votes via their social media channels/other. The public vote helps us to identify an overall public vote winner. The public vote winner may not necessarily be one of the top 100 nominees selected by our judges. The public vote winner will receive an award at the ceremony in July.
Please note there is no public vote for the Champions, Global Award for Achievement, Men for Gender Balance or the Company of the Year award category. Finally, the shortlist will be judged by a second set of industry judges who will help us to establish our final 100 Rising Stars, our five winning Champions and Men for Gender Balance, and our Company of the Year for 2025.
All winners will be announced on 4 June 2025 and winners will be invited to a prestigious award’s ceremony in July 2025.
- Nominations open – 13 January 2025
- Nominations closed – 3 March 2025
- Shortlist announced – 29 April 2025
- Public voting opens – 29 April 2025
- Public voting closes – 13 May 2025
- Shortlist Celebration – 28 May 2025
- Winner’s announced – 4 June 2025
- Award’s Ceremony – 10 July 2025
Please refer to our frequently asked questions if you require any additional information or email Info@wearethecity.com