The Singapore Design Awards (SDA) celebrated its 30th Anniversary at the newly opened Design Orchard on 14 March 2019. The celebration was specially planned to coincide with the yearly Singapore Design Week (SDW) for greater synergy and to bring the design community together. The Guest of Honour for the Award Ceremony was Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Communications and Information & the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth – Ms Sim Ann. She is also the Patron of DBCS (since 2018). Finalists and awards winners of SDA 2018/2019 were presented with certificates and plaques, respectively at the celebration. There were three categories: Students (individual & Group), Professionals (Individual) and Corporates. Submissions were segregated into four disciplines namely Image-making, Object-making, Place-making and Multidisciplinary. The panel of jurors was made up of esteemed local and international industry experts from the respective disciplines and they assessed all submissions through a preset of evaluation guidelines and information provided by the participants. The SDA was first conceived in 1988 and unveiled by then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, at the inaugural Singapore International Design Forum. Since then, the Design Business Chamber Singapore (DBCS) has been organising the SDA annually to acknowledge commendable designers, design students and design practices from across the world. The objective is to promote the strategic role of designers with Singapore at the heart of a dynamic Southeast Asia for the region and beyond. The SDA assembles a group of principal figures across the multifaceted fields of design to provide a platform for the design community to showcase the creativity and ingenuity in their work and to inspire the next generation of design leaders. The SDA is supported by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg). Starting from 2018, the SDA will run once every two years, alternating with Dsg’s President’s Design Award (P*DA).
