Join us in celebrating the winners of the Rising Stars Awards 2019

After a hard-fought contest, the winners were announced at a glamorous ceremony in central London

Every year the makeup of the IT industry changes, as veterans leave and new starters join. Last night we recognised the new faces who are already making their mark on the IT sector, at Computing's first Rising Stars Awards.

Held at the plush-but-understated Proud Embankment, after dinner the Awards got off to a fantastic start under the compering of comedian Rhys James, who took jabs at industry buzzwords like "agile" and "shift-left" before moving on to announce the winners - the IT leaders of tomorrow.

Prizes ranged from Apprentice of the Year to the coveted Rising Star of the Year. So without further ado - who were they?

Rising Stars 2019 - winners

• Analyst of the Year

Luis Khamashta, The Telegraph

• Apprentice Engineer of the Year

Carmel Eve, endjin

• Apprentice of the Year

Connor Hay, Leidos

Highly commended: Jordan Brooks, The Telegraph

• Award for Supporting Development

Des Lekerman, TIG

• Cloud Apprentice of the Year

Ed Freeman, endjin

• Cloud Professional of the Year

Johnny Ooi, The Telegraph

Highly commended: Alex Mansfield Scaddan, The Telegraph

• DevOps Engineer of the Year

George Anagnostopoulos, Senseon

Highly commended: Simon Halsey, GBG

• Excellence in Support Award

Neil Herron, Grid Smarter Cities

• Innovative Developer of the Year

Piers Pollard, Equals Collective

• Mentor of the Year

Dr Jeremy Bradley, Royal Mail

Highly commended: Mike Reed, Hastings Direct

• Security Apprentice of the Year

Stephanie Haynes, HORIBA MIRA

• Security Specialist of the Year

Brad Freeman, Senseon

• Team of the Year - Large Organisations

AO World

• Team of the Year - SME

Pickr

• Training Scheme of the Year

Cyber Security Associates Ltd

Highly commended: First Derivatives

• Unsung Hero of the Year

Monique Ho, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

Highly commended: Yavanna Vanyari, ELF.BE ltd London

• Rising Star of the Year - SME

Nick Chappell, Alpha FMC

• Rising Star of the Year - Large Organisations

Jasmina Mularska, British Telecoms Plc

• Rising Star of the Year - Not-for-Profit

Krittika D'Silva, University of Cambridge