Worthy winners: (from left) Tagit's chief technology officer Parikshit Paspulati, East Asia Power managing director Steven Loh, and Ascenz co-founder and general manager Sia Teck Chong at the EE2012 award ceremony last Friday.

By Eve Yeo

What a way for these enterprises to emerge!

Three of them, who were taking part in the Emerging Enterprise (EE) awards for the first time, managed to impress the judging panel enough to bag the top prize.

Ascenz Pte Ltd, East Asia Power Pte Ltd, and Tagit Pte Ltd beat 11 other high-quality finalists and can now count themselves among the brightest and most innovative small, young enterprises in Singapore.

Each winner will receive $390,000 worth of prizes, including interest-free loans, professional services, training programmes, and support in capability development.

Another accolade, the SingTel Best Innovation Award, was won by engineering firms Hope Technik Pte Ltd and JCS-Vanetec Pte Ltd. The two winners received $30,000 worth of business infocomm technology solutions from SingTel.

The EE award is Singapore's only annual entrepreneurial award that targets smaller businesses which are up to 10 years old with an annual sales turnover of $10 million or less.

Now into its fifth year, the award is jointly organised by The Business Times and OCBC Bank and is supported by Spring Singapore, NUS Extension, Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants, SingTel, and RSM Chio Lim - which is also the official auditor of EE2012.

The awards have rapidly become popular and this year saw a record number of applications - 10 times that received in 2008.

The quality of the winners also drew praise. "The winners have proven that size does not matter in the pursuit of their dreams. They are bold in their imagination, innovative in executing their ideas, and versatile in adapting to market conditions," said OCBC's head of emerging business for global commercial banking, Tan Chor Sen.

Alvin Tay, editor of The Business Times, added: "This year's winners share similar traits of past winners, demonstrating innovativeness, foresight, and sharp business acumen."