9 S'pore singing competition prize winners allegedly have not received S$22,000 prize money after 4 months

A total of nine winners from a singing competition held in Singapore have yet to receive their promised S$22,000 prize money after almost four months.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the nine winners took part in the competition in June 2026, four of whom have reported the incident to the police.

Competition, prize money

Held from Jun. 26 to 28, the competition was divided into categories including youth, working professionals and senior citizens.

Zaobao reported that the cash and prizes were worth over S$22,000.

The winner of the competition, who initially did not intend to take part, decided to sign up after his friend in Malaysia invited him.

He did not expect to become champion, Zaobao reported.

While the competition advertised S$22,000 for the total prize pool, it apparently did not specify the amount for each group in detail.

The champion only learned on the day of the awards ceremony that he would receive S$2,500 in cash and S$500 in vouchers for makeup and hairstyling, Zaobao reported.

He added that the second and third place would receive S$1,000 and S$500 in cash and vouchers respectively.

"When we went on stage to receive the award, we only received an envelope that informed us that the prize money would be transferred to our bank account on Jul. 30," he said.

Chasing prize money

The prize money did not arrive on Jul. 30.

Organisers then announced the prize money would be delayed till Sep. 11 due to internal problems, but this promise apparently fell through as well.

The champion told Zaobao that the nine winners of the first, second, and third place prizes had not yet received their cash prizes amounting to S$12,000.

He added that while another 15 individuals were supposed to receive gift certificates, they had not been redeemed as well.

After the winners discovered that another singing competition would be held in late September with some of the same staff, judges and emcees, they decided to claim their prize money there.

However, the person in charge allegedly told them that both competitions were organised by different companies, Zaobao reported, adding that they were told to contact the previous person in charge.

"When we asked when the prize money would be paid, they kept making excuses and we ended up not getting any information at all," the champion said.

2nd competition

Some of the contestants had previously registered for the second competition and paid a registration fee of S$30 to S$50, the champion said.

He added that they withdrew at the last minute since the prize money from the first competition had not been paid out.

Zaobao reported that the contestants apparently called and texted the organisers many times for their prize money, but did not receive a response.

Police report

Following this, four of the winners filed a police report on Oct. 12.

The remaining contestants found it difficult to travel to Singapore as they are from Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur and Sabah.

Having participated in many singing competitions over the years, the champion said he had never won a prize without receiving the prize money for a long time.

Though the contestants did not have much hope of claiming their prize money, they still wanted to try and remind others, Zaobao reported the champion as saying.

"Our main reason for contacting the media is to prevent more people from encountering the same situation. If we can get our prize money back, that would be an extra bonus."

Zaobao reached out to the organisers regarding reasons for the delayed prize money and when contestants could expect to be paid, but did not receive a response at the time of writing.