As a leading real estate company, bti has always worked with a keen focus on ideas that are revolutionizing our nation and will be continuing to do so. The driving force behind the Stellar Women initiative is the value of women empowerment, one that bti has upheld from its inception. As the Stellar Women initiative is the brainchild of bti, they approached the Daily Star for a collaboration – the Daily Star would support bti in this endeavor in every possible way.

Born in late 2022, this endeavor was a unique idea introduced by a leading real estate company. Its main aim was to recognize emerging, talented young women from a variety of walks of life who deserved recognition for their positive and impactful contributions to society. To make this initiative 100% genuine and authentic, a completely individual body of jurors unrelated to bti or the Daily Star would judge the entries under each category. This was done to maintain the transparency of this initiative. One noteworthy point is that through bti Stellar Women, hundreds of women would finally receive the recognition in their field that they truly deserve.
12 women in 12 different categories would be recognized for their contributions to society, ones with proper potential who can achieve a lot more with sufficient motivation and incentive and would be a torch bearer for the others in years to come.

This initiative has a three-layered rationale for it, namely:

It gives female individuals an opportunity to showcase their talents in their respective fields to peers, acquaintances and the rest of the world
It allows these female individuals to broaden their horizons by widening their network; and
It gives the winner in each category a cash incentive to encourage them to work harder to further boost their endeavor/ organization

After 12 months of hard work and perseverance, the jurors had finalized 12 winners (1 in each category), who had been given recognition in smaller winner announcement events.

These 12 Stellar Women were celebrated in a hugely successful gala held at the Kurmitola Golf Club. The star-studded gala was attended by notable personalities, the winners and their families, high officials of both bti and The Daily Star.

Following the success of last year’s gala, season 2 was launched with pomp and grandeur this year. Nominations and registrations for bti the Daily Star Stellar Women Season 2 are already underway. To make sure that women from lesser recognized fields (even ones working in remote areas/ with niche ideas) would also get noticed for their talents, it was decided that the categories would be changed up every year.

The list of categories for Season 2 are as follows:

Writer
This category will include female writers who have at least 1 successfully published book that has come out between Feb. ’23 to Feb. ‘24 will be able to register themselves, or nominate others who fit into these criteria.

Entrepreneur
In this category, female entrepreneurs who are successfully running their businesses (solo or as part of team) can register themselves, but their business must have had widespread positive contributions in the economy, the nation, as well as in society.

Interior and Landscaping Architect
For this category, interior and landscaping architects who have successfully implemented between 3 to 5 projects with positive contributions to society. They must also have an associate membership of IAB.

Marketing Professional
All female marketing professionals with potential working in corporates, SMEs and agencies can register themselves or nominate loved ones for this category. Their work must have made positive contributions to society.

Sports
Sportswomen who have achieved massive feats in 2023 will be considered for this category. Both national and international achievements will be taken into consideration.

Architect (Residential & Commercial)
All female residential and commercial architects with at least two implemented projects will be eligible to register under this particular category. They will also need to be a full member of IAB, and their work must have made positive contributions to society.

Art & Culture
Only women working in Art & Culture whose work has had positive impacts on shaping society will be considered for recognition in this category. Portfolio submission with samples of past work is an absolute must.

Engineering (Construction, Structure, Water Resource & MEP)
Female engineers from any of these four types can register in this category. The main stipulations are that they need to have worked on impactful projects that positively contributed to the society.

Bank & Financial Institute
Women working in banks or financial institutes who have made key, transformative contributions in the sector with positive impacts on the society will be considered in this category.

Healthcare
Female healthcare workers with positive contributions to the society, especially in 2023, can register themselves for this category. They can also nominate others whom they believe to be worthy of this recognition.

Environment
For this category, women who have personally or professionally worked towards resolving environmental issues with social, local or global implications, and have made positive contributions to society, will be considered. There must be proof of their achievement submitted with the registration or nomination forms.

Agriculture
For this recognition, women with exemplary accomplishments in the field of agriculture will be eligible. Their achievements must have had positive local, regional, national or international impacts. If they have a certificate of their accomplishment, it will serve as an added bonus.

Go ahead and visit https://btistellarwomen.thedailystar.net to see if you fit into one of these categories, then do register yourself. You can also nominate someone you know fits the bill under any of this season’s categories. Details about each category, including submission dates, materials required etc. can be found at the microsite.

bti The Daily Star Stellar Women is a distinctive endeavor, the main agenda of which is women empowerment, an idea staunchly upheld by bti. In order to ensure transparency and authenticity of this initiative, bti chose to collaborate with the leading English daily of the nation, the Daily Star. Women with awe-inspiring achievements who would blaze the trail for future entrants would be awarded under the 12 categories, which would shuffle on yearly; so that lesser-recognized categories would also be given sufficient focus.