YSE Awards
Young Software Engineer of the Year awards
Join us on Thursday 24th September 2026 at 6.30pm at the EICC in Edinburgh for the YSE Awards and to celebrate our future young software engineers.
This is the perfect opportunity to take your team, clients and guests out for what will be a memorable evening. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards without a champagne reception to kick the night off. We’ll then take our seats for a lavish three course meal, before watching the Awards and hearing from our after-dinner entertainment.
The 2026 Awards
The Young Software Engineer (YSE) of the Year Awards have been running for over 30 years, celebrating the talented minds graduating from each of our universities across Scotland.
Awards are given for the best final year BSc undergraduate software projects drawn from across all students studying computer science and software engineering, with prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and Best Engineering.
Prizes consist of a cash sum and a trophy, kindly sponsored by leading Scottish software companies: Sopra Steria, BCS, Resillion and Leidos.
Judging is conducted by a panel of industry experts, and the criteria used includes Level of Innovation, Technical Difficulty, Level of Knowledge & Previous Research, Commercial/Social Relevance, Quality of Engineering, Planning & Organisation, and Quality of Presentation.
The nominees for 2026 are:
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- Rebekah Leslie, University of Aberdeen
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- Jack Briggs, Abertay University
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- Danyl Kecha, University of Dundee
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- Morgan Daniel, University of Edinburgh
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- Jacob Lewis, Edinburgh Napier University
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- Neelan Patel, University of Glasgow
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- Callum Gourlay, Glasgow Caledonian University
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- Ivan Meister, Heriot Watt University
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- Kobina Ampofi-Forson, Robert Gordon University
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- Lily Martin, University of St Andrews
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- Lea Kotzmuth-Clarke, University of Stirling
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- Eva Blues, University of Strathclyde
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- Dominika Stachowska, University of the West of Scotland
Check out the full shortlist announcement here.
After dinner entertainment
We typically have an After Dinner Speaker to round off our YSE Awards; in the past, we have had everyone from comedians like Kevin Bridges, to athletes like Sir Chris Hoy, to motivational speakers like SAS: Who Dares Wins’ Colin Maclachlan, to “People Hacker” Jenny Radcliffe.
In the last couple of years we’ve gone down the musical route of live entertainment with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Scottish artist Callum Beattie.
This year we’ll have DJ and saxophonist duo, Tartan Entertainment, to get the party started!
The music will kick off following the conclusion of the Awards and a welcome from the sponsor, Lloyds Banking Group.
pricing
- ScotlandIS Member Corporate Table (10): £1900+VAT
- ScotlandIS Member Standard Table (10): £1700+VAT
- ScotlandIS Member Individual Ticket: £170+VAT
- Non-member Corporate Table (10): £2100+VAT
- Non-member Individual Ticket: £210+VAT
Tables and individual tickets can be purchased here.
Get in touch with our Events Producer, Catriona Blair, via catriona.blair@scotlandis.com with any queries.
"The Young Software Engineer of the Year awards are recognised both nationally and internationally, and my successful participation was discussed in every job interview I have had since. This also allows me to talk about my thesis project in-depth, which I always enjoy very much.
"Since winning the award, I have been invited to several events at my former university, one of which was me giving a guest lecture for final-year computing science students and sharing my experience with the thesis project."
"Thanks once again for putting on a great ScotSoft and sorting me out with a ticket.
"I’m pleased to say I’ll be starting a new role at Lloyds in the next couple of weeks, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the networking opportunities afforded by the event."
“I’ve seen the Young Software Engineer of the Year awards from both sides. The YSE award really helped me get attention from employers in the early stages of my career.
“As an employer, I’m proud to support the awards because it’s important to recognise upcoming talent and it’s been a great way for us to get introductions to these graduates, several of whom we have hired in the past.”
at Zalando (formerly of Amazon)
thanks to our sponsors
After Dinner Entertainment
YSE Brochure
1st prize
2nd prize
3rd prize
