This year’s awards recognised phenomenal individuals across 20 different industries, including women and men who are making outstanding contributions in their fields. We also celebrated our senior champions, our Company of the Year, our global winner, our public vote winner, and our inspiring men for gender balance. These changemakers didn’t just light up the room — they lit up the entire country.
From the moment the doors opened, the evening radiated energy, purpose, and pride. Connections were made, friendships formed, and new support networks built — many of which will last a lifetime. If we could have bottled the atmosphere, we would.
A heartfelt thank you goes to our headline sponsor, RBC, and to our incredible supporters: Warner Bros. Discovery, Bloomberg, Knight Frank, Barclays, Nomura, Chartered Management Institute, Warwick Business School, Macquarie, Browne Jacobson, Northern Trust, PwC, Male Allies UK, Northrop Grumman, Accenture, Reed Smith, and Dentsu.
Your belief in the power of recognising emerging talent and supporting gender equality is what drives this awards programme forward year after year. Thank you for your continued investment in the pipeline of female talent and for helping us celebrate the leaders of tomorrow.
Thanks to the generosity of our guests and sponsors, we also raised a phenomenal £7,000 for our charity partner, Maggie’s Centres. These funds will go directly towards supporting people living with cancer, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who contributed.
We’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Julia Streets MBE, our extraordinary host, whose energy lights up the room every year. To our awards presenters, thank you for bringing wisdom, inspiration, and encouragement to each category. And to the brilliant Liverpool Signing Choir — what a moment! Watching 350 guests dancing and signing in BSL with you was nothing short of magical and one of the evening’s unforgettable highlights.
To the companies and leaders who turned out in force to support your winners, thank you for showing up with enthusiasm and purpose. To our judges, nominators, shortlisted nominees, and every guest who attended — thank you for helping us bring this celebration to life. And to the many individuals and teams working tirelessly behind the scenes, your efforts did not go unnoticed.
To our incredible 2025 Rising Stars — we are so proud of everything you’ve achieved. Your ambition, courage and talent are nothing short of inspiring. Congratulations once again — you truly are the future of your industries.
We now have over 1,100 Rising Stars in our alumni network, many of whom have gone on to achieve extraordinary things. With 100 new winners joining our legacy this year, the momentum continues to grow. The 2026 Rising Star Awards open this January, and we’re already planning for an even bigger and better celebration.
If your organisation would like to get involved by sponsoring a category and helping us continue this important work, we’d love to hear from you — please get in touch at [email protected]. You can read all about this year’s Rising Stars on our website.
