Minister of State for Education and Manpower Ms Gan Siow Huang officiated at the N.E.mation! 2021 awards presentation ceremony at the Singapore Discovery Centre this afternoon, where she presented prizes to the winning teams from the Student and the Youth Categories. The event was also livestreamed on N.E.mation's official Facebook page.

Participants of N.E.mation! 2021 submitted storyboards and animation clips which highlighted the importance of Total Defence as an all-round response to the threats and challenges that Singapore faces. Team Anonymous Platypie from Kent Ridge Secondary School emerged as champions in the Student Category with their animation clip "Mask Made of Love", reminding Singaporeans to work as one like how the characters in their clip worked together to sew a mask for Merlion. Team Smexy Waxy from Chung Cheng High School (Main) and Team Nemo from Bukit Panjang Government High School clinched the first and second runner-up awards respectively.

In the Youth Category, Team Cocomelon from Nanyang Polytechnic produced the winning clip "Taking a Step", showing how different frontline roles and professions banded together against COVID-19 to keep Singapore strong. Teams JELX and PEEPO from Nanyang Polytechnic came in as the first and second runners-up respectively.

In her speech, Ms Gan commended the hard work and creativity of the students in putting Total Defence in action through their submissions, inspiring fellow Singaporeans to keep our nation strong. Ms Gan said, "Watching these clips reminds us that our peace and security should not be taken for granted. We must continually do our part in building our military, civil, economic, social, digital and psychological defence. And always to stay vigilant, be socially responsible, care for each other, and most of all, look out for one another in times of need."

N.E.mation! is an annual Total Defence animation competition organised by Nexus. This year's competition received over 1000 stories from over 270 teams, with many entries highlighting how Singaporeans have put Total Defence in action against COVID-19. N.E.mation! will permanently adopt the storyboard competition format^[1] for the Student Category. Submissions for the Student Category can be done online via https://go.gov.sg/ne2022studentreg by 15 August 2021.