5th Singapore Chinese Cultural Contribution Award open for nominations

Nominations are now open for the 5th Singapore Chinese Cultural Contribution Award. Conferred by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC), the Singapore Chinese Cultural Contribution Award (SCCCA) recognises individuals and organisations from various cultural fields, who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion, enrichment, and development of Chinese Singaporean culture. The SCCCA encompasses fields such as arts, heritage, popular culture and creative design.

The SCCCA is awarded to one individual and one organisation each year. For the 5th SCCCA, the recipients will receive a trophy, a S$10,000 Cash Prize, and up to S$10,000 in Project Funding (Application for project funding is subject to approval, and on a reimbursement basis. All project funding should be fully utilised within 12 months from the date of receiving the award).

The award is open to nominations from a wide variety of fields, including the arts, heritage, popular culture, and creative design. Nominees from the arts field may include the literary arts, performing arts, visual arts, film, and others. Meanwhile, the heritage field may include customs and traditions that are practised today such as food, martial arts, traditional crafts, and others. The popular culture field may include mass media sectors such as television, radio, and others, and the creative design field may include visual, product, fashion, architectural, environmental design, and others.

For the individual category, all nominees must be living Singapore citizens or permanent residents. For the organisation category, they must be Singapore-registered non-commercial organisations. There is no restriction on age, gender, or ethnicity; a non-Chinese person may be nominated, as well as works and contributions made through a non-Chinese language (e.g. English, Malay, and/or other languages).

The eventual winner will be determined based on several criteria, including their dedication and recognition in the field; how much effort they’ve taken towards cultural promotion; whether they’ve developed a sustainable means of transmission of of tradition to young practitioners; and achieving innovation and breakthroughs in their chosen field, particularly in relation to fostering cultural exchanges and collaborations with other ethnic groups.

The judging panel is helmed by Professor Eddie Kuo Chen Yu and comprises distinguished individuals from the local cultural scene — Mr Paul Tan, Mr Lim Jim Koon, Professor Quah Sy Ren, Ms Quek Yeng Yeng, Ms Woo Mun Ngan, and Mr Teo Han Wue. Together, they assess the nominees based on the award criteria in a just and fair manner.

The award process starts with public nominations and shortlisting of nominees by the panel of judges. Final recommendations will be put up to the SCCC Board of Directors for approval. SCCC will inform all successful nominators and nominees about the outcome of their nominations at the end of the year. The judges’ decision is final. The Award Presentation Ceremony is currently scheduled for mid-2022.

The SCCA is open for nominations until 2nd August 2021. For more information on the SCCA, visit their website here