Start of main content

The Princess Royal’s WISE rising star award

Enter or nominate for this award

This award aims to acknowledge and celebrate a woman who is only just beginning her STEM career.

The nominee may be a young rising star who has made her mark shortly after entering the working world. Equally, she may also be a more mature woman who is brand new to working in STEM and has shown real promise despite not being in the sector(s) for very long.

This WISE award celebrates a woman who is at the beginning of her STEM career and already demonstrating exceptional potential. She may be a young rising star who has made an early impact soon after entering the workforce, or a woman who has joined the STEM sector later in life and shown impressive promise in a short period of time.

Nominees should be in the earliest phase of their professional journey and already standing out through their talent, drive, and contribution. The judges are looking for rising stars who have not been in their field for long but are clearly on a trajectory toward significant future achievement.

Who can enter or be nominated?

A woman working in the UK STEM sector who:

  • Is in the early stages of a STEM career
  • Shows great promise
  • Has made a significant contribution to the STEM sector during a short period of time.

Who can enter or submit a nomination?

  • Individuals nominating someone else
  • Organisations nominating an employee
  • Individuals submitting a self‑nomination.

Key criteria

The nominee must have:

  • Demonstrated strong potential for future impact in STEM
    Made a significant contribution to STEM despite the short time in the field.
  • Contributions may include:
    • impactful projects
    • innovation or problem solving
    • notable results, improvements, or ideas
    • early leadership or initiative
    • influence on colleagues, teams, or communities.

Award nomination checklist

Before submitting an entry, please make sure you have the following information ready:

  • For self-nominations: Your referee’s name, email address and telephone number, along with permission to share these with WISE.
  • If you are nominating someone else: The nominee’s email address, telephone number, job title and organisation name, along with permission to share these with WISE.
  • The nominee’s bio as a Word or PDF document.
  • Evidence to support the nomination: As documents such as Word, PDF or PowerPoint, video files/links, testimonials, and supporting statistics. (Please submit in a Word document, outlining their relevance to the entry or nomination).
  • Organisation’s profile as a Word or PDF document, plus organisation’s logo as a JPG or PNG file format.

Terms and conditions

How to write a great nomination: Ten top tips
Provide evidence

Create impact by using examples, case studies, testimonials, evidence, facts and figures to demonstrate any statements.
Be specific

Help the award judges understand your nominee’s attributes and contributions.
Be concise

Avoid sweeping statements and make every sentence count. Avoid too many pronouns and run-on sentences.
Unique characteristics

What makes the nominee shine? (more than just what a great or nice person this nominee is).
Nomination category

Choose the right category. It’s the quality not the quantity of nominations.
Core values

Describe how the nominee reflects WISE’s core value of Championing women in STEM.
Break it down

Break down the question to ensure you answer every element.
Additional information

Support with additional information to back-up the nomination.
Proofread

Read through your statements carefully.
Sense check

Ask another person to review your nomination and give comments before submitting.