A para-athlete, a film-maker, a graphic novelist and a conductor are the first four nominees for The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2017 award.
Now in its third year and supported by the bank UBS Singapore, the award seeks to recognise Singaporeans whose extraordinary acts of goodwill have improved their community and the lives of others.
Singaporean individuals or groups can be nominated for the award until the end of the year. Other shortlisted candidates will be unveiled in two more batches during this month and next. This will be followed by two weeks of public voting, and the outcome will be used as a reference by the 15 judges when they are making their final decision.
The Singaporean of the Year will receive $20,000 and a trophy, while the other nine finalists will each get $5,000. The prize money will be sponsored by UBS. Besides editors from the ST newsroom, the judging panel includes chef and restaurateur Willin Low, and social entrepreneur and activist for children and women Saleemah Ismail.
The shortlisted finalists are navy serviceman and para-athlete Jason Chee, 34, who won a gold medal for table tennis at the ASEAN Para Games five years after a horrific accident; film-maker Kirsten Tan, 36, whose debut feature Pop Aye has been selected as Singapore’s submission for the Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards; cartoonist Sonny Liew, 43, whose graphic novel The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye won three Eisner awards; and conductor Wong Kah Chun, 31, who won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition last year.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 6 November 2017