Past winners

Myanmar President Thein Sein

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (awarded posthumously)

"The Disruptors": Grab co-founders Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, Flipkart co-founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, Gojek founder and chief executive Nadiem Makarim, Tencent Holdings founder Pony Ma and Razer co-founder Tan Min-Liang

Chinese President Xi Jinping

"The First Responders": Singaporean paraglider Ng Kok Choong (awarded posthumously), Indian Navy helicopter pilots P. Rajkumar and Vijay Varma, Indonesia's national disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Singapore's Mercy Relief, and Jakarta-based Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management

Indonesian President Joko Widodo

Six researchers, scientists and businessmen who helped find ways to contain the Covid-19 pandemic:

• Chinese researcher Zhang Yongzhen, who led the team that mapped and published online the first complete genome of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that sparked the pandemic;

• three scientists - China's Major-General Chen Wei, Japan's Dr Ryuichi Morishita and Singapore's Professor Ooi Eng Eong - who were among those at the forefront of developing vaccines against the virus; and

• two businessmen - South Korea's Mr Seo Jung-jin and India's Mr Adar Poonawalla - whose companies enabled the making and dispensing of the vaccines and other Covid-19 treatments to the world.