Cyril Wong Yit Mun (b. 1977, Singapore–) is an award-winning poet and writer. He clinched the National Arts Council’s (NAC) Young Artist Award in 2005 and is a two-time winner of the Singapore Literature Prize (2006; joint winner for 2016) for English poetry. Wong ...

Eminent watercolourist Ong Kim Seng (b. 10 June 1945, Singapore–) is the former president of the Singapore Watercolour Society (1991 to 2001), a Cultural Medallion winner (Visual Art) in 1990, and winner of six awards from the prestigious American Watercolour Society. ...

Dave Chua Hak Lien (b. 1970, Malaysia –), author of the novel Gone Case, was the recipient of the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1996. He had been the joint winner of the SPH-NAC (Singapore Press Holdings-National Arts Council) Golden Point Award ...

Ong Keng Sen (b. 1964, Singapore–), the critically acclaimed artistic director of TheatreWorks, a local theatre company, is best known for his intercultural Shakespeare-inspired trilogy of works – Lear, Desdemona and Search: Hamlet. He was the artistic director ...

Jannie Chan Siew Lee (Dato’ Dr) (b. 7 May 1945, Ipoh, Malaysia–), commonly known by her former matrimonial name, Jannie Tay, is the co-founder of luxury watch retail group, The Hour Glass. She was named one of the 50 winners of the inaugural Leading Women Entrepreneurs ...

Ng Eng Teng (b. 12 July 1934, Singapore–d. 4 November 2001, Singapore) was a sculptor and winner of the Cultural Medallion in visual arts in 1981. He learned painting under first-generation masters such as Georgette Chen and Liu Kang, and furthered his studies ...

Joscelin Yeo Wei Ling (b. 2 May 1979, Seoul, South Korea–) is a national swimmer of Singapore, and the only athlete on record to have won 40 gold medals at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Yeo retired from competitive swimming in 2007, and is regarded as a legend ...

Yip Cheong Fun (b. 1903, Hong Kong–d. 16 September 1989, Singapore), or “Old Man Yip”, was one of Singapore’s top pioneer photographers. In his lifetime, he received more than 50 worldwide photography awards. In 1980, he was named by the Photographic Society of ...

David Lim Kim San (b. 7 May 1933, Singapore–) has a diverse career in music which spanned over four decades, including educator, administrator, producer, advocate, vocalist and conductor. Lim’s contribution to the school band and choral movements began in the 1960s ...

Neo Chee Keong (b. 1960, Singapore–), popularly known as Jack Neo, is an actor, emcee and filmmaker. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2005 for his achievements in filmmaking. One of Neo’s early films, Money No Enough (1998), is one of Singapore’s highest ...

Phan Wait Hong (潘月红) (b. 1914, Shanghai, China–d. 1 September 2016, Singapore) is a key figure in the history of Beijing opera in Singapore. She came to Singapore from Shanghai at the age of 14 and rose to become a lead actress in a professional company that toured ...

Singapore’s array of literary awards and prizes recognises writers and works of literary merit. The honours are applicable to works in all four official languages of Singapore – English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil – and genres such as poetry and drama. The official ...

Foo Tee Jun (b. 15 December 1935, Singapore–) is a highly regarded and artistically distinguished salon photographer. His involvement with professional photography began in 1963. Over the years, Foo perfected his skills and experimented with various darkroom techniques ...

Leong Yoon Pin (b. 5 August 1931, Singapore–d. 13 April 2011, Singapore) was a composer, conductor and educator. Described as the doyen of Singapore composers, Leong was well known for his choral compositions, many of which were locally commissioned and performed ...

Kuo Pao Kun (b. 1939, Xiaoguo village, Hebei, China–d. 10 September 2002, Singapore) was a playwright who produced plays in both English and Chinese. He is considered one of the most significant dramatists in Singapore and a pioneer of Singapore theatre. Many of ...

Daren Shiau Vee Lung (b. 1971, Singapore–) is a writer, lawyer and an environmental activist. He won the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1998 for his debut novel, Heartland. Shiau also received the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award in ...

Tan Swie Hian (b. 5 May 1943, Pulau Halang, Indonesia–) is a multidisciplinary Singaporean artist known for his poetry, novels, paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. A highly esteemed artist, Tan has received multiple accolades both locally and internationally ...

Rex Anthony Shelley (b. 27 October 1930, Singapore–d. 21 August 2009, Singapore) was an award-winning Singaporean writer best known for his quartet of novels that centre on the lives of Eurasians in Singapore and Malaya. An engineer by training and a member of ...

Goh Ee Choo (b. 12 December 1962, Singapore–) is an established Singaporean contemporary artist who uses multiple mediums in his work. He has won many awards, among them the Jurors’ Choice in the Philip Morris Singapore Art Awards, and the Honourable Mention at ...

Suratman Markasan (b. 29 December 1930, Singapore– ) is a prolific poet, novelist and respected literary pioneer in Singapore. His literary career spans from the early 1950s to the present. The numerous awards he has received include: the Southeast Asian Writers ...