The Young Energy Professional (YEP) Awards took place at Hilton London Tower Bridge last night with a fantastic evening recognising the best and brightest upcoming talent across the industry. Now in their ninth year, these are the UK’s leading awards recognising the achievements of young professionals with up to 10 years’ experience working in energy.
Energy UK is very pleased to congratulate this year’s winners below:
- Rising Star: Dylan Jones, Data Scientist and Optimisation Specialist, Kinewell Energy
- Diversity and Inclusion Focus Award: William Dryden, Operational Manager, National Grid ESO
- Customer Champion: Hannah Rochford, Ancillary Service Development Manager, National Grid ESO
- Innovator of the Year: Vishak Dudhee, Technical Manager, V-LAB LTD
- Team of the Year: Strategic Modelling Team, Frazer-Nash Consultancy
- Audrey Gallacher for Excellence Award: Troy Fisher, Customer Experience and Service Design Lead, SSEN – Distribution
- Young Energy Professional of the Year: Sarah Woolham-Jaffier, Lead EPC Project Manager, National Grid
This year’s ceremony brought together an impressive group of sector leaders and rising stars alike to talk about their achievements in energy. Comedian and Environmental Economist Dr Matt Winning presented the Awards with a humorous slant on the importance of action against climate change.
There were also keynote speeches from Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee and Helen Sanders, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at SSE Thermal.
Judged by an expert panel, the seven award categories included Customer Champion, Diversity and Inclusion Focus and the Audrey Gallacher Award for Excellence – an award presented to the individual who has achieved success in their field via a non-academic route into the sector. The award commemorates the memory of Audrey Gallacher, who was Deputy Chief Executive of Energy UK from 2016 – 2022.
In addition, this year’s event also included a new award for Innovator of the Year which recognised those who have challenged the status quo within their field and thought creatively about how to solve some of the issues facing the energy industry.
Emma Pinchbeck, Chief Executive of Energy UK, said:
“The YEP Awards ceremony is always a fantastic evening where the outstanding contributions and achievements of young professionals in the energy sector are recognised by their peers and colleagues
“One the biggest challenges the country faces in reaching Net Zero and other ambitious targets is ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to deliver and innovate.
“So it’s vital that people from all backgrounds can see themselves working within our sector, and from the moment they join feel able to drive change and bring fresh ideas to a sector undergoing immense transformation. The YEP Awards are a brilliant opportunity to celebrate those who are relatively new to our industry but who will be playing a big part in the energy sector for many years to come.”
Notes to editors
- The YEP Forum was established in 2013 as a platform to support individuals with less than ten years of experience in the industry opportunities to connect with others, develop their skills and inspire others working in energy. With over 2,500 members, from analysts to engineers, from over 350 organisations, the YEP Forum extends across the whole industry. https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/careers/young-energy-professionals/
- The YEP Forum secretariat is held by Energy UK.
- Energy UK is the trade association for the energy industry with over 100 members – from established FTSE 100 companies right through to new, growing suppliers, generators and service providers across energy, transport, heat and technology. Our members deliver nearly 80% of the UK’s power generation and over 95% of the energy supply for 28 million UK homes as well as businesses. The sector invests £13bn annually and delivers nearly £30bn in gross value – on top of the nearly £100bn in economic activity through its supply chain and interaction with other sectors. The energy industry is key to delivering growth and plans to invest £100bn over the course of this decade in new energy sources. The energy sector supports 700,000 jobs in every corner of the country. Energy UK plays a key role in ensuring we attract and retain a diverse workforce. In addition to our Young Energy Professionals Forum, we are a founding member of TIDE, an industry-wide taskforce to tackle Inclusion and Diversity across energy.