Cultural Medallion

Singapore's highest honour for the arts, recognising artists whose decades of excellence, distinctive body of work, and extraordinary contributions have shaped the nation's cultural landscape.

Last updated on 30 September 2026

About the Cultural Medallion

Instituted in 1979 by our late President, then Minister of Culture, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, the Cultural Medallion is Singapore’s highest arts accolade, honouring individuals whose artistic excellence, contribution and commitment have enriched and distinguished Singapore’s arts and culture scene.

This award celebrates inspiring local arts practitioners who display professional maturity in their practice through a distinctive body of work, and who have made extraordinary contributions to Singapore’s artistic development and pushed boundaries in their respective fields of artistic practice, with good local and international standing and a strong display of leadership.

The Cultural Medallion is presented by the President, Republic of Singapore and administered by the National Arts Council. To date, the Cultural Medallion has been conferred on a total of 139 artists in the fields of film, literary arts, performing arts and visual arts.

Cultural Medallion fund

Each Cultural Medallion recipient will have access to funds of up to $80,000 to support their continuous artistic pursuit and help them make a positive impact on Singapore’s arts and culture development by engaging the wider community through their projects.

This amount could be used for a single project or multiple projects over the recipient's lifetime.

For more information on the Cultural Medallion Fund, download the guidelines [PDF, 509.57 KB] (opens in new tab) and the application form . [DOCX, 31.74 KB] (opens in new tab)

2025 Spotlight

“In this milestone SG60 year, the Cultural Medallion and Young Artist Award remind us of how far our arts scene has come with the growth and development of our nation. The arts have accompanied us in every milestone, celebrating our Singaporean culture and identity. The distinguished achievements of the seven recipients today affirm the central place of the arts in our collective journey and the bright future ahead for both our country and our arts scene.”

— Mr David Neo, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth

2025 Cultural Medallion recipient: Goh Boon Teck

2025 Cultural Medallion recipient: Nai Swee Leng

Cultural Medallion recipients (2020-present)

Goh Boon Teck , 2025 Cultural Medallion Recipient

Learn more about the recipients and their work

Past recipients

Years	Learn more about...
2025	Goh Boon Teck [PDF, 507.31 KB] (opens in new tab) Nai Swee Leng [PDF, 601.72 KB] (opens in new tab)
2024	Ghanavenothan Retnam [PDF, 926.28 KB] (opens in new tab) Siew Hock Meng [PDF, 927.81 KB] (opens in new tab)
2023	Meira Chand [PDF, 320.38 KB] (opens in new tab) Osman Abdul Hamid [PDF, 281.34 KB] (opens in new tab) Suchen Christine Lim [PDF, 285.49 KB] (opens in new tab)
2022	Aravinth Kumarasamy [PDF, 342.43 KB] (opens in new tab) Kok Heng Leun [PDF, 361.07 KB] (opens in new tab)
2021	Chia Joo Ming [PDF, 742.87 KB] (opens in new tab) Rahimah Rahim [PDF, 1.01 MB] (opens in new tab)
2020	Sarkasi Said [PDF, 399.72 KB] (opens in new tab) Dr Vincent Leow [PDF, 178.40 KB] (opens in new tab)

Cultural Medallion recipients (2010-2019)

Eric James Watson , 2019 Cultural Medallion Recipient

Learn more about the recipients and their work

Past recipients

Years	Learn more about...
2019	Eric James Watson [PDF, 324.97 KB] (opens in new tab)
2018	Louis Soliano [PDF, 399.40 KB] (opens in new tab) Low Mei Yoke [PDF, 386.47 KB] (opens in new tab)
2017	Djamal Tukimin [PDF, 12.07 MB] (opens in new tab) Law Wai Lun [PDF, 6.92 MB] (opens in new tab)
2016	Koh Mun Hong [PDF, 8.09 MB] (opens in new tab) Asiah Aman (Nona Asiah) [PDF, 15.30 MB] (opens in new tab)
2015	Chua Mia Tee [PDF, 356.63 KB] (opens in new tab) Haresh Sharma [PDF, 286.23 KB] (opens in new tab) Lim Hung Chang (Lin Gao) [PDF, 447.90 KB] (opens in new tab) Margaret Leng Tan [PDF, 361.56 KB] (opens in new tab)
2014	Alvin Tan [PDF, 1.77 MB] (opens in new tab) Chong Fah Cheong [PDF, 2.95 MB] (opens in new tab) KTM Iqbal [PDF, 2.32 MB] (opens in new tab)
2013	Ivan Heng [PDF, 13.69 MB] (opens in new tab) Mohamed Latiff Mohamed [PDF, 8.52 MB] (opens in new tab) Tsung Yeh [PDF, 7.55 MB] (opens in new tab)