SINGAPORE - The Star Awards has thrown up a few surprises after nominees for the Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes were announced on Tuesday (March 9).

Rising star Ayden Sng, who starred in romance drama Loving You last year opposite Jesseca Liu, was surprisingly not on the list of nominees.

Sng, who can be currently seen in the 130-episode culinary drama Recipe Of Life, was also not nominated for Best Newcomer.

Star Search 2019 champion Zhang Zetong and first runner-up Herman Keh, also did not make the cut for the popularity awards though both were nominated for Best Newcomer.

Instead, the nominees include several artistes who have been less prominent, such as Jayley Woo and Michelle Wong, Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported.

This year, the number of nominees for the Top 10 Male and Female Artistes was increased from 20 to 30 each, to cover two years worth of productions after last year's Star Awards was not held as a result of the pandemic.

This year's awards will be held on April 18.

Local actress Chantalle Ng, who received rave reviews for her role as Vietnamese bride Fangcao in the just concluded TV series My Star Bride, is on the list of nominees, together with co-star Xu Bin.

Other actors in the series who were also nominated are Ng's mother Lin Meijiao, Edwin Goh, Desmond Ng, Rayson Tan, Zheng Geping, Aileen Tan and Zhu Houren.

Besides Chantalle Ng, other second-generation stars in the running for the popularity awards are Eleanor Lee, daughter of TV host Quan Yifeng; Chen Yixi, son of celebrity couple Xiang Yun and Edmund Chen; Joel Choo, son of Zhu; and Tay Ying, daughter of Zheng and Hong Huifang, who was also nominated.

According to Wanbao, up to 15 artistes are first-time nominees, including Mei Xin, who appeared in director Jack Neo's movies The Diam Diam Era and The Diam Diam Era Two.

The oldest nominee is Zhang Wei, 78, with the second oldest being Jin Yinji at 73.

According to the awards' website, a poll of 1,000 people representing a wide demographic across Singapore's population was used to identify the top 30 Male and Female Artistes.

Fifty per cent of the final results will be determined from this pool of 1,000 people, with the other 50 per cent made up of online voting as a measure of their fan support.