SINGAPORE - As a 17-year-old Raffles Institution student, Stacey Ngiam used to sit in her school field and look at the SPH Media building across the highway.  

As an avid listener of UFM100.3, a Chinese-language SPH Radio station, Ms Ngiam was inspired by the station’s ability to connect with their listeners and hoped to make the same impact with her future career.

“At that time, many of my friends were going into law and medicine. I wanted to pursue something different such as media and journalism. I am also passionate about sharing people’s stories, and SPH is a very good space to kickstart that journey,” she said.

In 2025, Ms Ngiam, now 20, joined SPH as a radio programming intern at UFM100.3 after finishing her A levels.  

After a few months, she made the leap to journalism at The Straits Times, drawn by her interest in speaking to people and hearing their life stories.  

She was assigned to the courts and crime cluster but was given leeway to explore her own interests in her two months in the newsroom.  

“I am very thankful my supervisors Andre and Amelia pushed me to write a story about private candidates sitting for A Levels,” said Ms Ngiam, who was one of the two recipients of the SPH Media journalism scholarship in 2025 at a ceremony at the SPH News Centre on Aug 1. 

She will pursue an undergraduate degree in Communications Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in August. 

SPH Media’s journalism scholarships provide full tuition, a monthly allowance and practical experience through internship opportunities. The bond period depends on the university that the scholars have enrolled in, their course of study and the duration of study.

“As a private candidate myself, I struggled to find media coverage about the unconventional journey that we take,” she said. 

“I received a lot of support from social media an...