The award ceremony saw numerous changes in the award ceremony, with the Taiwan popularity votes being discontinued and were solely decided by the Malaysia viewers alone, new categories were introduced (such as the Best News/Current Affairs Presenter, now as two separate categories), and nominations for both Primetime and Daytime programs were merged.
The ceremony also introduced a new crystal trophy made in Shanghai, designed with a shape of S and A on the angle of view (which represents the initials of Star Awards), and the trophy has been used ever since the ceremony.
Professional and Technical Awards were presented before the main ceremony via a clip montage due to time constraints.
[1][2] ^1 Lee was disqualified midway during the voting period due to contractual violation.
She was not replaced and the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste went ahead as normal with 19 candidates, while votes cast for her was void and removed from the list of polls on mid-November.