Singapore Poly wins inaugural Asean People's Award

Singapore Polytechnic is the national winner of the inaugural ASEAN People's Award, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced in a statement today.

The award is conferred on an individual or an organisation in each ASEAN member state. All 10 recipients will receive their awards, each of which comes with a cash grant of US$10,000 (S$14,000), in a ceremony at the 27th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur next month.

In Singapore, a public nomination exercise held from Aug 25 to Sept 6 saw nominations for seven organisations and 15 individuals.

Singapore Polytechnic was chosen as the winner by an assessment panel that comprised former Community Chest chairman Jennie Chua and Ambassaors-at-Large Chan Heng Chee, Tommy Koh, and Ong Keng Yong.

"Singapore Polytechnic has made excellent contributions towards ASEAN's community-building efforts in the area of youth and education through various activities such as the annual Youth Model ASEAN Conference and its Learning Express programme for students," the MFA said.

"Since their inception in 2012 and 2013 respectively, these programmes have brought together over 1000 students from ASEAN member states to deepen their awareness and understanding of ASEAN's diverse culture and current affairs amongst youth. Singapore Polytechnic has fostered a greater sense of community and connectivity among students in ASEAN and in doing so, help build an ASEAN identity," the MFA added.

huizhen@sph.com.sg