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04603 

19 August 2003 

THE SPECIAL ACADEMIC AWARDS 2003

         58 awards will be presented to students at the 2003 Special Academic Awards Presentation ceremony on 19 August 2003. These awards include the Prime Minister's Book Prize, the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science, and the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship To Encourage Upgrading (LKY-STEP award). Acting Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Guest-of-Honour for the ceremony, will be presenting the awards to the recipients.

The Prime Minister's Book Prize

2.         The Prime Minister's Book Prize is an annual award for bilingualism given at the primary, secondary and pre-university levels. This year, of the 28 students who are awarded the Prime Minister's Book Prize, 9 are in the Primary section, 14 in the Secondary section and 5 in the Pre-University section. The names of the awardees are given in Annexes A1 to A3.

3.         Two students, Ngeow Kao Chin and Lim Yi Fan, are receiving both the Prime Minister's Book Prize in the 'O' level category and the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science in the 'O' level category.

The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science

4.         The Lee Kuan Yew Award for excellence in Mathematics and Science was instituted in 1992. The awards are given under three categories - Secondary, Pre-University and Polytechnic. This year, of the 24 recipients, 9 are in the Secondary category, 7 in the Pre-University category and 8 in the Polytechnic category. The names of the awardees are given in Annexes B1 to B2.

5.         Tan Chun Ghee, a winner in the GCE 'A' level category, also received the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science in the 'O' level category and the Prime Minister's Book Prize in the 'O' level category in 2001.

6.         Tham Ming Qiang Nicholas, a winner in the 'A' level category, received the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science in the 'O' level category and the Prime Minister's Book Prize in the 'O' level category in 2001. He has also been awarded a PSC Overseas Merit Scholarship (2003) and is currently reading Mathematics and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

7.         Huang Mingyan, a winner in the 'A' level category, received the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science in the 'O' level category in 2001.

8.         Tan Shengqiang Joseph, also a winner in the 'A' level category, received the Prime Minister's Book Prize in the 'O' level category in 2001.

The Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to Encourage Upgrading (LKY-STEP Award)

9.         The Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to Encourage Upgrading (LKY-STEP Award) is an annual award for polytechnic students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to encourage upgrading and life-long learning. This year, a total of 6 LKY-STEP awards will be presented, 4 to outstanding Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduates pursuing full-time studies at our polytechnics, and 2 to outstanding polytechnic graduates pursuing full-time undergraduate studies at our universities. The names of the awardees are given in Annex C.

New Lee Kuan Yew Award for Outstanding Normal Course Students from 2004

10.         A new award, the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Outstanding Normal Course Students will be launched in 2004. This award is to recognise students in the Normal Academic (NA) and Normal Technical (NT) course for their academic achievements, and to encourage them to continue to do well. A total of four awards will be given out to two top students in each course based on their 'N' level examination results, i.e. 2 awards for NA students and 2 awards for NT students. These students will be selected according to their performance in the NA and NT examinations. Senior Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, has made donations from profits derived from the sales of his memoirs, as well as an honorarium received from a speaking engagement, to start this award. Investment returns earned from the donation of about $280,000 will go towards the funding of this annual award. A brief on the new award is given in Annex D.

Annex A1

RECIPIENTS OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S BOOK PRIZE FOR 2003

Annex A2

Annex A3

Annex B1

RECIPIENTS OF THE LEE KUAN YEW AWARD FOR MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 2003

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