SINGAPORE – Novelists Meira Chand, 81, and Suchen Christine Lim, 75, as well as Malay dance veteran Osman Abdul Hamid, 61, have been conferred the Cultural Medallion, Singapore’s most prestigious arts accolade.
Lim and Chand are the first English-language female writers to be awarded the Cultural Medallion since Ho Minfong in 1997, and Osman is the first Malay dancer to be honoured since Som Said in 1987.
The trio received their awards from President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at a ceremony held at the Istana on Dec 5. The award comes with an $80,000 grant for each recipient in support of their artistic pursuits.
An initiative of the late president, and then Minister of Culture, Ong Teng Cheong, the award has been given to 135 artists since its inception in 1979. Former recipients include poet Arthur Yap, dancer Santha Bhaskar, composer Dick Lee, singer Rahimah Rahim and performing arts veterans Aravinth Kumarasamy and Kok Heng Leun, who were the recipients in 2022.
President Tharman said in a statement: “Each of our three new Cultural Medallion recipients is being recognised for their explorations through life, and for inspiring many others, not least the next generation of artists.”
Both Lim and Chand are award-winning novelists known for their depiction of multicultural societies. Lim’s Fistful Of Colours (1993) won the inaugural Singapore Literature Prize, and Chand’s The Painted Cage (1986) was longlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize.
Osman, who is recognised for his four-decade career in Malay dance, is the co-founder and artistic director of Era Dance Theatre. He received the Young Artist Award (YAA) in 1993.
The Dec 5 ceremony also recognised five promising artists aged 35 years and below as Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong presented them with the YAA.
Recipients include the first cinematographer to be given the YAA, Shyan Tan, 35. The others are poet, editor, translator and critic Daryl Lim Wei Jie, 33; visual artist Melissa Tan, 34; music director, performer and educator Julian Wong, 35; and Chinese music composer, researcher and educator Wang Chenwei, 35.
All five will be eligible for a grant of $20,000 to support their artistic development within two years.
Recipients are evaluated by specialist panel members and this year’s panellists included dance pioneer Angela Liong, literature professor Chitra Sankaran and Esplanade chief executive Yvonne Tham. At the end of the ceremony, a short video presentation paid tribute to Cultural Medallion recipient and guitarist Alex Abisheganaden, who died in 2023, aged 97.
