10 Facts About Star Awards 2019 That S’poreans Actually Want to Know

Whether you’re a #millennial or #oldbutgold, something that has probably always been in the background of your home life is Mediacorp dramas.

(Or for the #oldbutgold team, SBC then TCS dramas)

In November 2016, Channel NewsAsia reported that more than 80% of the local population tune in to free-to-air television weekly and out of this demographic, the Mandarin channel Channel 8 is most popular.

Pretty sure many things have changed in two years, but it wouldn’t have changed the number from 80% to 08%.

(Would it?)

And to celebrate the actors, actresses and dramas that make the TV what it is today, Star Awards is back again.

Before the highly anticipated annual event hits your small screen in April, here are 10 facts about it you’re probably dying to know.

(It’s not 08%, right?)

Where and When to Catch it

The Star Awards 2019 will be airing live on Channel 8, Channel U and Toggle TV on 14 April 2019 (Sunday). With it being on Toggle TV, it means you can also watch it while you’re in the train or in the toilet as long as you’ve an Internet connection.

The awards would start from 5:30 p.m., and here are the schedule lest you’re just interested in what the stars wear, or you just want to know who wins what.

Star Awards 2019 – Walk of Fame (Watch what they wear)
5:30pm – 6:30pm

Star Awards 2019 Awards Ceremony (Watch what they win)
7pm – 10pm

The awards will be held at MES Theatre at Mediacorp

I don’t know about you, but this venue has become a tad more well-known recently.

Other than hosting Pinkfong Baby Shark Live musical last year, it also hosted Nas Daily’s farewell meet-up, with over 700 turning up for the event.

I won’t need to tell you how atas and high-tech the place is, do I?

It’s 25 Years Old

Yes. The Star Awards Ceremony is older than many of you reading this.

This is the Star Awards’ 25th anniversary, since its debut in 1994.

The very first Star Awards was held at Caldecott Broadcast Centre, MediaCorp TV Theatre and attended by 500 people.

Which is why you’d realise that you’ll see the number “25” in their commercials.

Theme

The 25th awards ceremony, Red Star Award 2019 will be celebrated with the theme of “this moment”.

“This moment” is focused on people and emotions and celebrates the glorious moments of Channel 8’s heroes both on and off screen who work hard to see the fruit of their labour.

Wait, “heroes” off screen? Is there finally going to be an award for…say, the stuntman? #justsaying #didntyouknowabouttheoscarissue

Voting

Yes, you can still vote for the top 10 most popular male / female celebrities via phone, but I’m 101% that’s for nostalgia (or the older generation).

Other than phone calls, you can also vote online here from 8 March 2019 (12:00) till 7 April 2019 (23:59).

Voters require a valid Mediacorp account and are entitled to one vote per day.

The results will be announced on 14 April 2019 during the awards ceremony.

Zoe Tay vs. Fann Wong

Years of waiting is finally over.

For the first time in 7 years, Zoe Tay and Fann Wong are up against each other for the highly coveted Best Actress Award.

Fann Wong is nominated through Doppelganger (入侵者), whereby she acted alongside with her real-life husband Christoper Lee. Zoe Tay is nominated through A Million Dollar Dream (给我一百万).

Together with them in the same category are Rebecca Lim, who has won the Best Actress Award before, Joanne Peh and Carrie Wong.

In 1994 when the Star Awards debuted with the 1st Star Awards, Zoe Tay won the Most Popular Actress Award.

The following year, 1995, at the Inaugural Star Awards, the category of Best Actress Award was introduced and won by Fann Wong for her role as Fann Ling in the drama series Chronicle of Life.

This must be a super exciting time for those who’ve been loyally following these 2 actresses all these years!

Most Popular Dramas

The most popular dramas for the awards this year are Blessings 2 and A Million Dollar Dream, each being nominated for 6 separate categories.

Close runner-ups are drama series You Can Be An Angel 3, with 5 nominations and Mind Matters, with 4.

And just so you know, Zoe Tay was in both A Million Dollar Dream and You Can Be An Angel 3. Is our Ah Jie back for more now?

#PowerCouple

This year, power couple Christopher Lee and Fann Wong have both been nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. Christoper Lee is also nominated through Doppelganger (入侵者).

The other nominations for best actor include Chen Hanwei, Shaun Chen, Qi YuWu and Desmond Tan.

Missing Categories

This is the 6th consecutive awards ceremony without Best News Presenter and Best Current Affairs Presenter.

And you’ve got to wonder why: we (actually it’s my boss) want to see QinKai taking an award!

Theme Song

When you think of Star Awards, you’ll think of this song:

In celebration of Star Awards’ 25th anniversary, this year will feature a brand new, vocalised theme song.

Produced by Jim Lim, the song song Starlight, 星光, combines the award ceremony’s signature tune with vocals by Zoe Tay, Chen Hanwei, Rebecca Lim and Desmond Tan and will be performed at the 2019 awards ceremony.

Jim Lim has also produced songs by Stefanie Sun, Fish Leong and A-Mei.

You can hear it here (yay, the familiar melody is still there, at 1:30):

Pretty lit that they managed to add the familiar tune in, isn’t it?