The first Straits Times Singaporean of the Year will be announced today at an award ceremony attended by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
This follows a public vote and deliberation by a panel of judges on which of the 10 candidates shortlisted last year should win the title.
The award, supported by the bank UBS Singapore, seeks to recognise Singaporeans whose extraordinary acts of goodwill, ingenuity or perseverance improved their community and the lives of others last year.
The ceremony will be held at UBS Business University, formerly the Command House, a national monument near Adam Road.
There, PM Lee will present to the Singaporean of the Year a cash prize of $20,000 and a trophy. The other nine nominees will each get $5,000 from sponsor UBS.
Before the public vote closed last Thursday, Paralympian swimmer Yip Pin Xiu, 24, and good Samaritan Noriza A. Mansor, 50, led the polls.
Ms Yip, who has muscular dystrophy, broke a world record at the Asean Para Games last December, while Madam Noriza stepped forward to help an old man who had soiled himself in a Toa Payoh supermarket.
The public vote was taken into consideration by a panel of 15 judges, including Straits Times editors and writers, as well as figures such as social entrepreneur and activist Saleemah Ismail, civil servant Aaron Maniam and youth leader David Hoe, when they made their final decision last Friday.
Three readers who voted also stand to win a $100 Takashimaya voucher each.
Read more ST Singaporean of the Year stories here.
