NUS High students win digital service award for Total Defence game

SINGAPORE – Two teenagers who helped develop an online strategy game – where players learn about Total Defence (TD) as they defend Singapore against various threats – were recognised for their contribution to improving government digital services here.

NUS High School students Siddhaarth Dharani, 17, and Wong Yue Heng, 16, led a team of 22 students – all National Cadet Corps cadets – to develop the Total Defence Tower Defence Game. This was part of the Total Defence sandbox, a platform for young Singaporeans to share ideas on improving the TD framework with its six pillars of national defence.

The pair decided to participate in the sandbox to create an online game, which would be accessible and appealing to young people.

“When you go digital, you can make the experience a lot more immersive for players, so they can gain a lot more out of it, and they’re going to be able to apply what they have learnt better,” said Siddhaarth. The game can be found at https://go.gov.sg/tdtdg

For their efforts, the two each received the Outstanding Citizen Contributor award at the Digital Services Awards, which was held at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability on Nov 24. Straits Times tech editor Irene Tham was one of five judges for the award.

The Digital Services Awards, organised by the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) and supported by Smart Nation Singapore, recognise government agencies for their achievements in delivering digital services to the public.

For the first time, the annual awards paid tribute to the contributions of citizens in co-creating and improving digital government services, as well as efforts by the private sector to make their websites more user-friendly and inclusive.

GovTech chief executive Goh Wei Boon said the agency hopes the new categories will encourage more citizens and private sector organisations to improve the usability and inclusiveness of local digital services.

“We want to foster more collaboration, innovation, and excellence in digital service delivery, and this expansion is a significant step in that direction,” he said.

Other winners this time included the Gardens by the Bay website, which clinched the Best Usability (Industry) award, and the DBS Bank website, which won the Most Popular Informational Website (Industry) award.

“For our citizens, actively participating and contributing their time and feedback means creating better services for themselves and fellow Singaporeans,” said Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary, who attended the awards event.

Exceptional user experiences should be universal across all digital services in Singapore, said Dr Janil, who is also Minister-in-charge of GovTech.

“User-centricity doesn’t just lead to increased customer satisfaction but also contributes to an increase in productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of services for the Government,” he added, noting it can also enhance revenue and customer loyalty for firms.