SINGAPORE - Orchardgateway and Ion Orchard have been named the best dressed buildings in Orchard Road for their Christmas decorations in 2015.

Orchardgateway won the Voters' Choice Award, bagging close to 30 per cent (4,904) of the 17,551 shopper votes for its "An Icicle Xmas" theme featuring glittering icicles hanging off the mall's facade.

Ion Orchard was the judges' favourite, with an outdoor space transformed into a Christmas wonderland and a stunning outdoor Swarovski 28,000-crystal Christmas tree.

The annual contest, which evaluated the buildings' day and night Christmas decoration effects, saw a total of eight malls vying for the two awards. The malls were also judged on their use of interactive features to create an engaging experience for shoppers.

Mr Mark Shaw, chairman of the Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) which organised the contest, congratulated the winners.

"We thank all participants for their efforts in decorating their malls. The stunning facades on the participating buildings have contributed to ringing in the festivities in our precinct," he said.

"Together with our Christmas lights, we hope shoppers enjoy not just shopping in our malls, but also this visual spectacle on our streetscape."

Six other malls received merit awards for their decorations - Forum The Shopping Mall, Mandarin Gallery, Paragon, Tanglin Mall, Tangs at Tang Plaza, and Wheelock Place.

The top two malls receive a $25,000 cash prize each, while the merit winners will each receive $10,000.

"We are delighted and grateful that shoppers have voted overwhelmingly for Orchardgateway," said Mr Vincent Soh, Orchardgateway's chief executive. He said that the mall will be giving away free $10 shopping vouchers for the first 500 shoppers on Saturday (Dec 19) from 2.30pm as a token of appreciation.

Mr Chris Chong, CEO of Orchard Turn Retail Investment which owns Ion Orchard, said that the sparkling Swarovski walk-in tree was a hit with shoppers and tourists, who have posted numerous photographs of it on social media.

The contest is one of the highlights in Orchard Road this Christmas season. There will also be a series of festive performances - including choir performances and dances - from Dec 18-23 along Singapore's most famous shopping street.