About the Awards

Launched in 1978, it was originally known as the Girl Technician of the Year, but was changed to the Young Woman Engineer of the Year in 1988.

The YWE award was originally sponsored by the Caroline Haslett Memorial Trust, which provided scholarships and other educational opportunities for women seeking or already pursuing careers in electronic, electrical or mechanical engineering.

Dame Caroline Haslett (1895-1957) was the first Secretary of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) out of which grew the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) and Dame Caroline was appointed its Director and Secretary. Through the Association she encouraged the use of power in the home believing that electricity was the real emancipator of women.

The Trust was formed in 1945 to commemorate the 21st anniversary of EAW and after Dame Caroline’s death it became a memorial to her. The Trust funds are now exhausted, but the IET continues to support the Young Woman of the Year Award.

The late Mary George CBE joined EAW (Electrical Association for Women) in 1956 having previously been a Civil Servant with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

She was appointed the Director and Secretary of EAW and after her death in 1983, a collection was organised by the Association to form a memorial fund to her. In 1985 the fund was used to inaugurate the Mary George Memorial Prize.

The prize is given to a young female apprentice who shows great promise and potential in the profession and is tipped to be one of tomorrow’s leaders in engineering.

Following the 40 year anniversary of the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards, the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award was established in 2019 to honour and recognise an individual that has dedicated a large proportion of their career to achieving gender equality within the engineering industry.

This award aims to celebrate a role model, but also showcase innovation and good practices when it comes to implementing tactics and policies to address the gender gap through attracting and retaining women in engineering.