Awards & Recognition
Recognizing Excellence in Occupational Therapy
The Singapore Association of Occupational Therapists (SAOT) is proud to honor outstanding professionals through two distinguished awards — the SAOT Inspiring OT Award and the SpOTlight OT Award. These awards celebrate exceptional contributions, leadership, and innovation that have advanced the occupational therapy profession in Singapore.
SAOT also partners with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to confer the SAOT-SIT ICE GEM Award which seeks to recognise outstanding clinical educators.
What it is:
SAOT’s Inspiring Occupational Therapist Award is a bi-annual event, held in conjunction with our National OT Conference. This award was first launched in 2015, and seeks to be an extension of SAOT’s mission and vision in advancing the quality of Occupational Therapy in Singapore – highlighting outstanding and inspirational OT leaders who have not only excelled professionally, but also demonstrated impactful contributions towards elevating the quality of health and social care delivery for all in Singapore.
Our SAOT Inspiring OT Award references the Skills Framework for Healthcare (SkillsFuture, 2018) as a guiding framework for evaluation of our outstanding nominees. Based on a thematic consolidation agreed on by SAOT Council, our Inspiring OT Award seeks to celebrate OTs who have exemplified the following areas:
Recipients of the SAOT Inspiring OT Award recipient have demonstrated a variety of skills that enables him/her to not only uphold exemplary professional standards as an OT role model, but also to influence the health and social care innovation landscape through strategic leadership locally and/or internationally, and across professional boundaries.
These recipients are also lifelong learners who provide strong mentorship for OTs in Singapore – helping the younger generations to navigate their professional development journey through sharing of reflective lenses/skills, while also formulating structures to facilitate people development and critical thought leadership within their respective fields of influence.
Nomination Criteria:
• Registered Occupational Therapist with the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC)
• At least 15 years of work experience as an Occupational Therapist (including those currently working as Educators, Managers, or Policy makers)
• Current SAOT Ordinary Member and had volunteered with SAOT
Evaluation Domains:
Contributed significantly towards elevating the quality of Occupational Therapy practice in Singapore. This includes contributions in one or more of the following areas:
1. Outstanding leadership portfolios and establishment of their practice area(s)
2. Significant contribution to the body of occupational therapy knowledge and/or clinical education
3. Strong advocacy for clients/community/welfare/civic related matters (e.g., regulatory, legislative, policy issues; advocacy for clients’ needs within the community)
4. Active and sustained service that leads to growth and/or reputation of the professional association or the profession
Click here to view past awardees
What it is:
Newly established in 2025, this award serves to recognise our up and coming clinicians, and their contributions to the profession.
Nomination Criteria:
• Registered Occupational Therapist with the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC)
• Has 8 to 14 years of work experience and is currently still working as an Occupational Therapist, or with Occupational Therapists/Occupational Therapy students
• Current SAOT Ordinary Member
Evaluation Domains:
1. Leadership and development of one or more emerging practice areas (e.g. new models of occupational therapy practice, leveraging new technologies in treatment provision, health promotion and wellness)
2. Contribution to the body of occupational therapy knowledge
3. Advocacy for clients/community/welfare/civic related matters (e.g., regulatory, legislative, policy issues; advocacy for clients’ needs within the community)
4. Service to the professional association on a regional and/or national level.
Click here to view past awardees
What it is:
The SAOT-SIT ICE GEM award is a biennial award that seeks to recognise outstanding clinical educators who create a “Just-Right” challenge through:
1) Building of reciprocal relationship that is supportive, student-centred, collaborative
2) Modelling life-long learning and valued feedback
3) Recognition of student’s individuality, and promoted confidence and professional identity
4) Facilitation of learning by creating opportunities
5) Exposure to students to different learning situations that were graded
6) Facilitation of reflections through different reflective activities
7) Provision of timely, balanced feedback through a variety of mediums, and recognizing progress
8) Encouragement of autonomy & independence through skilled gradation and entrustment, according to strengths
9) Spurring students out of their comfort zone and encouraging the development of their own therapeutic style