Celebrating APRW's Partnership with WKWSCI

_{APRW representatives with Zachary Lim and Lauren Chian (middle), recipients of the APRW Excellence Award, at WKWSCI Spotlight Awards Night 2026.} 

As APRW celebrates its 30th anniversary, its partnership with the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) is one of the ways the agency continues to support the next generation of communication professionals. 

Established in 2021, the APRW-NTU WKWSCI Student Development Fund was created to help students bring ambitious Final Year Project ideas to life while recognising the School's most outstanding projects through the annual APRW Excellence Awards. Together, the fund and awards encourage students to pursue meaningful work that addresses real-world issues, explores new ideas and demonstrates the creativity and rigour that define a WKWSCI education. 

Each year, the APRW Excellence Awards are presented at WKWSCI Spotlight Awards Night, honouring the most outstanding Final Year Projects across the School's four academic tracks. Beyond academic excellence, the awards celebrate the dedication, collaboration and perseverance behind each project, while encouraging students as they embark on the next stage of their professional journeys.

Turning ideas into impact

One of this year's recipients was Zachary Lim, whose team received the APRW Excellence Award in the Journalism and Media Policies track for The Transhuman Nation: How can generative artificial intelligence unlock Singapore's artistic and cultural potential in the next decade? Created by Zachary and teammates Lauren Chian and Taryn Ng, the illustrated feature package explored how generative AI is reshaping Singapore's arts and cultural landscape, examining both its opportunities and challenges through the perspectives of artists, policymakers and creatives.

 

_{An excerpt from The Transhuman Nation by Zachary Lim, Lauren Chian and Taryn Ng}

On what the recognition meant to him, Zachary said, "Receiving the APRW Excellence Award was a great honour, and I am grateful that APRW saw value in the work my teammates and I created. We wanted to explore the evolving relationship between AI and the arts, and why this is such an important conversation for creatives today. The project reminded me that while technology will continue to evolve, there will always be a place for thoughtful storytelling and human creativity." 

Since graduating, Zachary has joined The Straits Times as a reporter-podcast producer under the SPH-Temasek Journalism Scholarship, where he continues to tell stories that inform and engage audiences. 

A shared commitment to future talent

For APRW, supporting the next generation of communicators goes beyond recognising achievement. Through its partnership with WKWSCI, the agency hopes to strengthen the wider communications industry by empowering emerging talent and giving students the confidence to pursue their ambitions. 

“Growth for APRW has always been about success for our clients, the agency, and doing what we can to support the community and the industry. We believe that a thriving communications industry is more important than ever now, and we have consistently been looking into ways to help empower talent in this field. We hope that our contributions can encourage students to pursue their passion in communications and kick-start their careers boldly,” said Ms Lim Wee Ling (CS’01), Director of APRW and an alumna of WKWSCI. 

As APRW marks this milestone, the partnership continues to demonstrate how industry and academia can work together to create opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. By supporting students as they develop impactful Final Year Projects and celebrating outstanding achievements through the APRW Excellence Awards, APRW is helping to empower the next generation of communication professionals to create work that informs, connects and makes a difference.