The HOFS Award 2023 was held at Ritz Carlton-Millenia in Singapore on September 30, where influential individuals who have raised the standards among various niche sectors around the world gathered to celebrate uniqueness and strive for excellence through creativity. This year’s ceremony was hosted by Ms. Chonlatee Chanracjakul, Minister of Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore. This was the fourth edition of HOFS and the most attended in its history with more than 600 guests from across the globe, including business leaders from various fields such as fashion, hospitality, media, and lifestyle brands.
The Singapore Prize honours exceptional published works written in Singapore’s four official languages – Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. This biennial prize, established through an endowment by Confucian scholar and businessman Alan Chan, recognises books that highlight mindsets and values integral to shaping Singapore – such as a strong sense of community, social cohesion, meritocracy, religious harmony and education, among others. It is administered by National Book Development Council of Singapore.
On Tuesday, at a glitzy awards ceremony in the city-state’s state-owned Mediacorp campus, Prince William introduced winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize — entrepreneurs and start-ups that have some of the answers to our planet’s most challenging problems. One of the winners, Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and chief executive of UK-based ENSO, a company that creates tyres designed for electric vehicles to reduce tyre pollution, congratulated the prince on his commitment to repair the world.
In keeping with the sustainability theme of the event, all presenters walked on a green carpet, and the royal and other guests wore sustainable clothing. The prince wore a dark green Alexander McQueen blazer, and actor Hannah Waddingham wore a gown by eco-friendly designer Stella McCartney.
A total of S$2.3 million in cash prizes were awarded to a total of 30 winners across the different categories. The winners in the English language category included first-timers alllkunila (Azhagunila), innnpaa (Inbha), Jee Leong Koh, and rmaa cureess (Rama Sureesh). In addition, literary pioneer Edwin Thumboo was given the Singapore Literature Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Winners will be notified by Singapore Pools and are required to submit proof of identity for verification. This is required to ensure that winnings are paid out to the correct person. For E-Tickets, customers are required to submit a claim request via the Singapore Pools website or mobile app before heading down to any of our outlets to submit the proof of identity. Those with physical tickets will need to bring along their winning tickets and original photo identification documents (NRIC or Passport for Singaporeans/PRs; Driving License for foreigners) to the branch. The deadline for submitting proof of identity is Thursday, 5 October. Customers are advised to check their Singapore Pools account records for the status of their claim requests before coming down. This is to prevent long wait times at the cashier counter.