Recognising the potential talent of someone working at Grade 7 or below, who is in their first 5 years of their Civil Service career in (or associated with) project delivery.
The Rising Star Award recognises the potential talent of someone working at Grade 7 or below, who is in their first 5 years of their Civil Service career in (or associated with) project delivery.
This is an individual who is demonstrating excellence in the delivery of their project(s), exceeding expectations, contributing to the profession more widely and has achieved at least foundation-level accreditation in project delivery.
John Scott transitioned into project delivery in 2022 and rapidly progressed, achieving Foundation-level accreditation in August 2024. He led delivery of Triggered Migration within Making Tax Digital at HMRC, one of the programme’s most complex capabilities involving 175 user stories and 116 requirements. His leadership enabled successful delivery of critical functionality supporting Making Tax Digital for Income Tax mandation, expected to add around £3 billion to the public finances by 2030-31 and to generate significant ongoing benefits thereafter.
John became an expert in Jira and Confluence, coaching wider teams on its use. He volunteered to lead development of the Making Tax Digital Data team charter, embedding shared values, promoting psychological safety, and championing work/life balance. His inclusive approach strengthened team cohesion and improved collaborative working across delivery partners.
John overcame supplier resource constraints by breaking discovery into focused sessions scheduled around specialist availability, using meticulous planning and clear communication. He led workshops sharing lessons learned across multi-functional teams and championed sprint retrospectives regarded as exemplars for 14 other programme teams, promoting continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.
Teesha Bhuruth is an exceptional early-career project delivery professional operating across Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government within the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)/Home Energy Model (HEM) policy team, responsible for the Home Energy Model programme. She demonstrates delivery rigour, technical fluency, and collaborative leadership that mark her as a future leader in the profession.
Teesha’s achievements include leading validation planning for the SAP/HEM programme, where her coordination and proactive engagement ensured milestones were met ahead of schedule, boosting confidence and reducing delivery risk.
She has also streamlined reporting processes by 30%, freeing up time for strategic planning and improving visibility across teams. Teesha is known for her inclusive and solutions-focused style, mentoring new colleagues, and helping teams adopt data-driven approaches by bridging analysts, policy leads, and delivery managers.
Teesha has represented the team in directorate-level stock-takes, contributed to risk mitigation planning, and is pursuing Foundation-level accreditation. Her commitment to learning and improvement, as well as her ability to turn challenges into opportunities for growth, have had a positive impact on her team and the wider organisation. Teesha’s work has been recognised by senior colleagues including her deputy director.
Laura White joined the Civil Service in 2023 and is completing her Foundation-level accreditation alongside a Project Data Analytics Apprenticeship (finishing at the end of 2025). She has become a champion for data-driven project delivery, speaking at the department’s project delivery conference, organising Apprentice Away Days, and inspiring over 100 apprentices across multiple cohorts. Within her delivery team, she champions Learning From Experience (LFE), improved records management standards, and supports wellbeing and psychological safety as a committee member.
Laura won first place at ProjectHack24, developing an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) solution helping suppliers assess bid submissions against government criteria, which is now available across government. She created a cross-department lessons from experience dashboard integrating lessons into a single source, developed proof-of-concept systems for monitoring slippage and resource hours, and built risk management dashboards. Her infectious enthusiasm promotes data analytics transformation across the profession.
Laura demonstrated resilience when facing project cancellations, transforming potential setbacks into opportunities by advancing the Ministry of Defence’s data analytics capabilities and benefiting the wider profession. She successfully balanced core role responsibilities with additional commitments through effective workload management and prioritisation, delivering across all tasks.
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