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The Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award

The Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award

Website Banner_Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award 

The Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award aims to recognise practitioners (both individual and groups) of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) who are dedicated to the promotion and transmission of their practices, and have made outstanding contributions in their field.

This award is conferred by the National Heritage Board (NHB) and is one of NHB's key ongoing efforts to safeguard ICH in Singapore.

ICH elements practised by the nominated practitioners need to be part of NHB's ICH Inventory, which consists of six categories:

  • *Social Practices, Rituals and Festival Events
  • Knowledge and Practices concerning Nature and Universe
  • Oral Traditions and Expressions
  • Performing Arts
  • Traditional Craftsmanship
  • Food Heritage

*The scheme excludes practices that are overtly religious or spreads the teachings or beliefs of any one religion.

How and when to apply?

To apply, please download the relevant Nomination Form - Individual Nomination or Group Nomination. More details of the submission can be found under Application Process and Deadline below.

PRIZE

Each recipient (individual or organisation) will be presented with a trophy, certificate of award, and S$5,000 cash prize.

Each recipient will also have the option to tap up to S$20,000 in project funding. This is subject to the approval of the proposed project.

Award Categories & Eligibility

Individuals:

  1. Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents, 18 years old and above.

  2. Must be a practitioner with minimum 10 years in vocation and a respected member of the practising community.

Note: Award will only be conferred upon individuals who are ICH practitioners - researchers, advocates, and/or managers of ICH organisations who do not themselves possess ICH knowledge and practice ICH skills are not eligible for the Award.

Groups/Organisations

  1. Must be based in Singapore and headed by a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident

  2. The group must have been practising for a minimum of 10 years.

  3. The group must be a formally registered society or company.

Note: Awards will not be conferred posthumously.

Nomination Methods

Self-nomination and public nomination

Evaluation Criteria

Nominees are evaluated according to how they have demonstrated the following criteria:

Active Transmission of Skills and Knowledge

  • Displays outstanding and ongoing efforts to transmit skills and knowledge to the next generation

  • Regular engagement with the wider community to raise awareness of the practice

Mastery of Skills and Knowledge

  • Displays excellence in the application of both knowledge and skills

Long-Term Dedication to Transmitting Practice

  • Long-term commitment to sustaining knowledge and skills of the practice

Positive Impact and Influence

  • Serves as a positive example by encouraging cultural exchange

  • Displays efforts to serve the wider community through the practice

Individual and group/organisation applications will be evaluated as separate categories of applicants, although all applications will be assessed based on the above criteria.

Evaluation Panel

Nominations will be reviewed and assessed by an Evaluation Panel, which comprises ICH practitioners, academics, leaders of community organisations, and representatives from NHB.

For the 2024 Award cycle, the members of the Evaluation Panel are:

Chair Ms Yeoh Chee Yan
Chairman, National Heritage Board
Deputy Chair Ms Chang Hwee Nee
CE, National Heritage Board
Members  Dr Azhar Ibrahim
Department of Malay Studies, NUS
  Mr Chan Kian Kuan
Vice-President, Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations
  Ms Julia D’Silva
Representative, Eurasian Association
  Dr Koh Keng We
Department of History, NTU
  Mr Alvin Tan 
CEO, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
  Dr Norshahril Saat
Chairman, Malay Heritage Foundation
  Mr Rajakumar Chandra
Advisor, Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association
  Ms Serene Lim
Director (Sector Development – Performing Arts), NAC
  Mdm Som Said
Artistic Director, Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts
  Ms Sunitha Janamohanan
Lecturer, LASALLE College of the Arts

Application Process and Deadline 

  1. Complete Nomination Form and prepare all supporting documents for submission.

  2. Submit the complete set of nomination documents through either of these methods:

    1. E-mail all documents to nhb_stewards@nhb.gov.sg by 5 August 2024 (Monday), 2359 hours:

      Please ensure that the size of the e-mail and attachments should not be larger than 10MB. Supporting documents that are large in file size should be uploaded via file-sharing platforms. Please indicate the web link(s) inside the nomination documents.

    2. Send the nomination documents to the following address by 5 August 2024 (Monday), 1800 hours:

      Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award Secretariat
      National Heritage Board
      Stamford Court
      61 Stamford Road #03-08
      Singapore 178892


      Please note that only photocopies of supporting documents are required. All submitted documents are non-returnable and you may be required to produce the original documents for verification.

Frequently Asked Questions

For any queries or questions regarding the nomination process, please refer to the FAQs below. For any further clarifications, please reach out to NHB via the contact details provided at the end of this page.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Notification of Outcome

NHB will inform all nominators and nominees about the outcome of their nominations by October 2024.

Contact

nhb_stewards@nhb.gov.sg OR 6982 1351.