That Socials TeamYoung Rising Star Award
Young Rising Star Award recognises an emerging business owner aged 30 or under who has already created meaningful business results and shows strong leadership potential. It celebrates commercial progress, clear thinking, resilience and the ability to turn early ambition into measurable achievement.
Is this your category?
A quick read on the businesses this title is written for.
Owns and operates a business with measurable early results.
Shows clear commercial thinking, initiative and leadership.
Demonstrates resilience, adaptability and strong decision-making.
Has a credible vision for the future of the business and their contribution to industry or community.
What judges need to see.
The five areas your answers are assessed against.
Foundation
Foundation: Business model, purpose and the entrant's role as a young founder.
Results
Results: Measurable growth, milestones and commercial progress already achieved.
Decisions
Decisions: Strategies, innovation and responses to challenges that strengthened the business.
Leadership
Leadership: Influence, collaboration, resilience and early leadership capability.
Impact
Impact: Contribution to customers, community or industry and the entrant's direction for future growth.
Evidence to start gathering
Start collecting these now so the writing is quick later.
Read the Evidence Pack guideRevenue, sales, client or customer growth.
Major milestones reached with clear timeframes.
Partnerships, contracts or market validation.
Customer outcome or satisfaction data.
Systems or improvements introduced by the founder.
Testimonials describing leadership or business results.
Industry or community contribution.
Evidence of resilience and decisions made through significant challenges.
Entry details and eligibility
The format, the dates and the conditions that apply to this title.
The entrant must be aged 30 years or under as at 31 October 2026.
- Assessment period
- 2024–27.
- Minimum business age
- 12 months.
- Written responses
- 5.
- Evidence Pack
- 5 pages.
1 January 2024 to 28 February 2027
Minimum 12 months in business as at 4 October 2026.
5 written responses, up to 400 words each.
One PDF, up to 5 pages and 10 MB.
Resources
Before you enter
Five short reads that answer almost everything. Each one opens the Entry Guide at the right place.
Evidence Pack guide
What counts as evidence, what does not, and how to lay the PDF out.
Full eligibility
The rules that apply to every title, including trading dates and locations.
How judging works
Who reads your entry, how it is scored and how finalists are chosen.
Build a strong entry
How to answer the five questions with specifics instead of adjectives.
Frequently asked questions
Costs, deadlines, multiple entries and everything else people ask first.
Category partner
That Socials Team
Kayla Fernance, Founder · Gold Coast
Presenting Young Rising Star Award
Presenting partners do not score, select or influence entrants. Judging is run independently.
RAYE Awards 2027
Young Rising Star Award
Entries are written and submitted in the RAYE Awards portal, a separate system to RAYE Haus. Read the criteria, gather your evidence, then head across.