Adjudication

An expert jury, chaired by Eelco Hoekstra, selects the candidates. The adjudication takes place in stages.

Jury and candidates 2024

Young Captain Award Jury and candidates 2024

All key dates for the Young Captain Program and the Young Captain Award will be announced in January 2025.

Jury members

Eelco Hoekstra
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Eelco Hoekstra
CEO and Board mmember with international experience

Stephanie Hottenhuis
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Stephanie Hottenhuis
CEO & Chair to the Board of KPMG Netherlands

Peter Hondebrink
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Peter Hondebrink
Deputy Director Top Sectors & Industrial Policy, Ministry of Economic Affairs

Hans van Oosterhout
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Hans van Oosterhout
Professor of Corporate Governance, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Heleen Dura - van Oord
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Heleen Dura - van Oord
Entrepreneur, investor and board member Rijksmuseum, De Efteling, African Parks Foundation and The School of Moral Ambition.

Marjan Rintel
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Marjan Rintel
President-Directeur KLM Nederland

Lodewijk Hijmans van den Bergh
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Lodewijk Hijmans van den Bergh
Lid RvC bij ING, Heineken en HAL

Hein Schumacher
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Hein Schumacher
CEO Unilever

George Tokaya
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George Tokaya
Philips, Commercial Category Leader Beademingsmaskers & Software, Young Captain 2024

July 2025

Closing date for nominating candidates

You can nominate directly online via this website Candidates who are logged in must send in a comprehensive CV and letter or recommendation by 9 August. The jury will select up to ten candidates on the basis of these documents.

September 2025

First round of interviews

The jury will hold intensive interviews with all the candidates on the long list. For this, the jury will be divided into two groups. Both groups of jury members will hold an interview of about an hour with the candidates. In the interviews, the jury will ask searchingly about their ambitions and performance, moral issues on the subject of leadership, European economic issues, their views on sustainable business and the role of the business enterprise in an international social and economic perspective. At the end of the day the full jury will get together to choose the three finalists. The selection board will give reasons for its choice in a jury report. All the candidates will be personally informed by one of the members of the jury on the result and reasons for its choice or rejection. In this way, they will also get feedback about their performance.

October 2025

Announcement of the finalists to the press

The names of the finalists will be announced in a press release. In it, the jury will give its reasons for their choice. The newspaper De Telegraaf traditionally gives extensive coverage to the award.

October 2025

The second and last round, finalists' dinner

For this round, the three finalists will write an essay about a number of predetermined issues, themes or statements. The subjects are taken from issues of the day, and so change from year to year. The essay is the input for a dialogue of about 2 hours with the entire jury. In recent years, the topics included such things as the aging population, emerging markets, world food production and European economic policy. This session has the character of a high-level debate, so that the candidate has the opportunity to distinguish him/herself. Filmed portraits of the candidates will be made during the day, which will be published later on the website of the Young Captain Award. After the end of the sessions, the jury will choose the new Young Captain. The result is kept secret, from the finalists too, until the presentation of the Award.

The partners of the Young Captain Award traditionally offer the three finalists and the members of the jury a dinner, location t.b.d. in the Amsterdam region.

November 2025

Presentation of the Young Captain Award

The winner will be announced and the Award will be presented during a festive dinner in the presence of about 130 business leaders from the business community in the Netherlands.

Nominate your candiate Volgende

Do you know a promising business manager? Nominate your candidate.