Local firms from industries as diverse as the construction, food and healthcare industries have been recognised for their branding efforts.

Among the first-time winners was noodle manufacturer Tan Seng Kee Foods' line of pasteurised fresh noodles marketed under its Kang Kang brand. It won the SPBA-Promising Brand. The firm's executive director, Raymond Tan, said the launch of the Kang Kang brand helped to emphasise its products' freshness. Kang Kang is a word play of the Mandarin phrase, jian kang, which means healthy.

Another first-time winner is construction firm Koh Bros. Though a stalwart in the local industry, the firm only took part in the awards this year as its Managing Director and Group CEO Francis Koh said it wanted to remain "humble". But with the firm's diversification into the real estate sector, Mr Koh said it was a good time to push its brand in the marketing space. It won in the SPBA-Heritage Brand category.

This year's Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA) saw a total of 43 winners in five categories.

The categories were: the SPBA-Promising Brands (for brands established between 3 and 8 years); the SPBA-Established Brands (for brands established between 6 and 30 years); the SPBA-Heritage Brands (for brands established for more than 30 years); the SPBA-Regional Brands (for brands established for at least 3 years and have presence in at least 5 foreign markets) and the SPBA-Special Merit award for government agencies and not-for-profit organisations that have been established for at least 3 years.

The winners were chosen from over 100 entries. Of these, 46 per cent are also past recipients of the award. They were recognised for creating and building up their homegrown brands.

The SPBA is jointly organised for the 12th year by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and SPH's Chinese-language daily, Lianhe Zaobao.