SINGAPORE, Aug. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The 30-second Film Awards (30SFA) is a non-profit competition organised by GYC Financial Advisory and UOB Asset Management. It is open to all Singapore-based creators irrespective of nationality and runs from 1 Jun to 14 Sep 2025. Participants stand to win cash prizes amounting to $14,000.
Pilot launch of creative initiatives by GYC and UOBAM
The open call is inspired by the navigation of meaningful relationships from one generation to the next as part of the wealth management and legacy planning process that both firms excel in. As the nation approaches its own citizen’s statutory retirement age of 63 (this year being SG60), the theme of competition is particularly apt.
The creative brief is to produce a short video showcasing a real-life heartwarming relationship between two people from different generations (an older and a younger person) and the positive impact it had on their lives.
Singapore June 2025 —
This project is spearheaded by a practising artist and an ex-architect – Jogoh (Head of Comms & Client Experience, GYC) and James (Senior Associate, GYC) – who feel that the qualitative aspect of relationships is what brings meaning and fulfilment to the job. Aside from the performance numbers, ROIs, and illustrative projections that are part and parcel of wealth management, they wanted to highlight the intricacies of intergenerational relationships that families navigate when they consider the matter of passing on their wealth.
‘There are some really precious and vulnerable conversations that take place when people are confronted with the fact that one day, they will no longer be around.’ Jogoh notes, ‘Wealth that was built through a lifetime, and the weight of that — we want to honour what these individuals went through, their stories, precious lessons learnt, and communicate some of the essence of their life and values to their children and family.’
30SFA is particularly challenging as participants must convey that very essence of their own meaningful intergenerational relationships within half a minute. ‘We felt that we’ve seen narratives fleshed out in a minute before,’ James said, ‘take 60-second Docs for example. Given the decreasing attention span of society, we are excited to see what creatives can produce and the feelings they can evoke in just 30-seconds.’
The competition is officially supported by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA, University of the Arts Singapore), with its president, Mrs Tan-Soh Wai Lan, sitting on the judging panel. While there is a registration fee — to encourage commitment from applicants — it is heavily discounted for students, and one team just pays a single registration fee. As a non-profit competition, all fees paid after administrative costs goes back into the competition itself, e.g. hosting the award ceremony for winning participants. Any balance left over will be disbursed to charities or schools to support the arts and culture in Singapore.
‘Back when I was solely focussed on building my art practice, I came across quite a few competitions with many different types of prizes,’ Jogoh recounts, ‘but I felt what would have truly helped me was simply cash, to help defray living expenses and to help me further my craft. We’re so excited that we’re able to offer that to creators today and hopefully encourage them in their journey to produce heartwarming stories.’
To find out more about the competition visit the GYC website at gyc.com.sg/30-second-film-awards or the UOBAM website under partnerships at uobam.com.sg/index.page#exploring-for-partnership
