| |
SINGAPORE: An ovarian cancer survivor beat nearly 30 other women to be crowned MediaCorp's first Singapore Woman Award.
The inaugural award was given out on Wednesday evening as part of a month-long celebration of International Women's Day, presented by MediaCorp's Publishing magazine "Vanilla".
Each of the eight finalists, who lead extraordinary lives, has an amazing story to tell. But 33-year-old Molly Lee won the judges over.
Despite fighting ovarian cancer for the past three years, the former web designer has found time to start an online cancer support group just for young women – www.wearewonderwomen.com.
The website has registered 13,000 hits and has a loyal online following.
"I have a greater responsibility to encourage and provide support for my fellow wonder women," said Molly.
Laura Hwang, one of the judges for the Singapore Woman Award 2008 and president of the International Women's Forum, said: "Each one of these eight finalists has overcome really great personal issues. They have taken these issues and turned them into something that they could share with others and improve other people's lives."
At the event, a special Lifetime Achievement Award was given to 110-year-old Teresa Hsu. The centenarian has been active in helping not just needy families and the elderly in Singapore, but also the less fortunate in Vietnam.
MediaCorp hopes the Singapore Woman Award will be an inspiration to other women.
Shaun Seow, Deputy CEO of MediaCorp, said: "You know the power of media, (through) our television, radio, print platforms, we're able to highlight the achievements of ordinary women doing extraordinary things. And in the process, we hope that they would actually inspire others and inspire the existing achievers to do even better things next year."
Judging by the turnout, the inaugural award is off to a good start and the company has plans to expand it further next year to recognise more outstanding women, including social entrepreneurs.
- CNA/so
|
