The 28th Edition of Star Awards 2023 (Chinese: 红星大奖2023) is a television award ceremony that honoured the best in Singaporean television released between January and December 2022. Star Awards 2023 prepares for the largest celebration of local Chinese entertainment industry talent and content in Singapore! The Star Awards 2023, with the theme "Beyond | Celebrations," have been redefined as a star-studded concert, bringing together the best performers from Singapore and the region for an exhilarating night of glitz, excitement, and celebrations unlike any other. The Ceremony was once again held at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on 9 April 2023.^[1]

The current All-Time Favorite Artiste Felicia Chin and Rebecca Lim earned their tenth Top 10 Most Favorite Artiste awards, in last years' ceremony, making Rebecca Lim the ninth celebrity to receive the Top 10 honour for ten consecutive years.

The Nominees of the professional categories were announced on 15 February 2023, on the MeWatch official website.^[2][3]

That year's show and red carpet was broadcast on Channel 8, Mediacorp Channel U, mewatch, Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube, Astro AEC and Astro GO Channel 302 at 5pm until 6.30pm (Walk-of-fame), 7pm until 10pm (ceremony) while the backstage commentary was broadcast on mewatch and Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube from 3.30pm until 10.30pm.^[4] The repeat telecast of the ceremony was at 16 April 2023 from 2pm to 6.30pm on Channel 8. This ceremony also included an international host — Taiwanese Singer, Matilda Tao and Lee Teng collaborated together as the host of the ceremony for the first time, while Lee Teng hosted for the 3rd time after the 2016 and 2017 ceremony.^[5]

Winners and nominees

Brandon Wong is the only actor that is being nominated for both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor honours in the same ceremony. This is Richie Koh's, Desmond Ng's and Ayden Sng's first nomination in the Best Actor category, which is now emphasising young actors. This is also Richie Koh's first win for the Best Actor Award is also the second youngest Best Actor winner in the history of Star Awards. For the first time since the 2001 ceremony, Huang Biren and Zoe Tay were nominated for the Best Actress Award in the same ceremony, while Huang Biren continued to win the award for the second consecutive year, breaking her tie with Zoe Tay. ^[1][6]

The same genre and television programme for which Quan Yi Fong previously won in 2021 and 2022, "Hear U Out," was nominated for that ceremony. Quan Yi Fong had previously dominated in the category of "Best Programme Host," but Christopher Lee broke her winning streak in that category.

One of the first-time nominees Das DD, was the first ever artiste of Indian origin in Singapore to receive a nomination and a win at the Star Awards.

Star Awards was nominated at least 25 times and had won 11 out of 25 times in the Variety Special Category, making it the event with the most nominations and wins.^[1]

The majority of the nominations for Best Radio Programme were the same as last year, with only one new and qualified nominees competing in this category. The Breakfast Quartet gets the most victories in this category for the third year in a row since it was formed in 2021.^[1]

Star Awards Industry Achievement Awards, also known as Star Awards 2023 - Gala Night was held at JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach on 30 March 2023, 8pm with all the Best Programme Awards presented first, via social media. The ceremony is hosted by Hazelle Teo and Dennis Chew.^[7][8][9]

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.^[a]

Special awards

This is given to an artist who has received a total of ten "Top 10 Most Popular Male / Female Artiste Awards" and/or "Most Popular Rising Star Award," which do not have to be consecutive. The artiste will receive an All-Time Favourite Artiste Award after winning the tenth popularity award.^[11][12]

Popularity Awards

Top 10 Most Popular Artistes

Artists who meet the Popularity Category Eligibility Criteria are shortlisted to participate in a nationwide poll of 1,000 people from Singapore's population, with an equitable breakdown across various age groups ("Popularity Survey") and public voting.

An recognized market research business conducts the Popularity Survey independently using face-to-face or door-to-door questionnaires.

The public vote for the popularity awards will begin in March 2023.^[13]

The Top 10 Most Popular Male / Female Artiste Awards and Most Popular Rising Stars Awards are selected by the findings of the Popularity Survey (20%) and public vote (80%), which are validated by experienced auditors.^[14][15]

Top 3 Most Popular Rising Stars 三大最受欢迎潜力星

Mediacorp added another popularity poll award this year, "Most Popular Rising Star Award". Participants must be newcomers with no more than 5 years of performing arts experience. This year, 39 newbies were chosen as finalists. The award is gender neutral and can be awarded to both male and female artistes. The top 3 vote-getters will get trophies.^{[16][17][18] [19]}

MyPick! Categories

A minor award ceremony called MyPICK! which had been presented for the second consecutive year since 2022.

The public voted to select the winners of the MY PICK! categories. Voting began at 12:00 p.m. on March 6, 2023. Voting was free and open to all voters with a valid meCONNECT account. Each voter could only vote once every day in each award category. The results were unveiled on April 9, 2023, during the Star Awards 2023 - Backstage Marathon.^[20]

Sponsorship Voting Category

Bioskin Most Charismatic Artiste Award - Red Carpet
Chan Brothers My Star Guide Award - Backstage

Nominations

Winning category obtained are marked with bold.

Presenters and performers

The following presented awards and performed musical numbers.^[21][22]

Ceremony Information

Changes to the award categories

• There will be 2 new awards, "Best Rising Star 最佳潜力星" and popularity award "Most Popular Rising Star Award 最受欢迎潜力星", which will have the same eligibility requirements as the Top 10 Most Popular Artistes, with nominees required to play at least a lead role or main host in at least one Eligible Programme, or a supporting role or episodic host in at least one Eligible Programme. Nominees must have 5 years or fewer of professional screen acting and/or screen / audio hosting experience (as at 1 January 2022). Cameo appearances and/or experiences prior to the age of 18 are not considered professional screen acting and/or screen / audio hosting experience. Also, the "Best Rising Star Award" will be judged by the professional juries.
• The Best Short-Form Drama Series 最佳短篇戏剧 category was not presented for the first time this year since its inception in 2019.
• The amount of nominations for the Top 10 Most Popular Artistes has now been increased to an unlimited number, making any artiste who had contributed to Singaporean television in the past year eligible to compete in The Top 10.
• The MyPick! Awards for "Perfect Combo 最合拍搭档" and "Most Attention Seeking New-gen Host 最强镜新晋主持人" was not presented for the first time this year since its inception of the categories last year, in 2022
• Unlike previous ceremonies, the awards for the Programme Categories were presented before the main award ceremony.

Top 10 Most Popular Artistes nomination and controversy

The revisions to the Top 10 Most Popular Category have aroused controversy because the category will no longer be limited to its regular 20 Male and Female performers; instead, the category will nominate every artist who had contributed to Singaporean television in the past year. The rules and conditions for this year's Top 10 Most Popular Artistes award were extensively open to people who had contributed not only in Mediacorp Television, but also in Mediacorp Radio Broadcasting. Anyone with more than five years of experience in screen acting and/or screen/audio hosting as of January 1, 2022 and who meets at least one of the following requirements is eligible:^[23]

• In at least one eligible programme and had played the lead or were the major host.
• In at least three eligible programmes and had played a supporting part or hosted an episode.
• Appears in 30 episodes across all eligible programmes.

New regulations conceal vulnerabilities

Artistes that have only appeared in one drama series as a lead role may also be nominated in this category. Examples are "Sisters Stand Tall", where Malaysian actress "Jojo Goh" and Chinese actress "Jin Meng Yang Zi" were nominated for the award as well, despite not being under Mediacorp staff. Majority of the nominees of the Top 10 popularity awards were radio DJs as well, as they can be nominated just by being the host of an eligible radio programme. However, DJ "Kimberly Wang" from the English radio station 987FM was also nominated for this category.^[23][13]