The Singapore prize is a biennial award in the country that recognises outstanding published works by writers in any of its four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. It is awarded by the National Book Development Council of Singapore, in partnership with the National Arts Council and the National Library Board.
This year, the prize offered 12 top prizes of up to $10,000 each for fiction, non-fiction and poetry in each language. The award has also introduced a new category for the best book on the history of Singapore. This book, titled Magic Babe Ning, tells the story of an iconic Singaporean singer who was a pioneer in bringing traditional Chinese opera to a wide audience.
The NUS Singapore History Prize was first established in 2014, as part of the SG50 program, to celebrate the nation’s 50th anniversary. It is administered by the NUS Department of History, and is given every three years. The prize recognises significant publications on the history of Singapore, and is open to both non-fiction and historical fiction.
There are six works in the running for this year’s prize, including a book on the life of an average family which eschews the notion that history is merely a record of big movers and shakers. Another work, by Kamaladevi Pillai and Anitha Pillai, examines historical events through a layperson’s eyes. There are even two books that present the same subject matter, but in different ways – one through a memoir, and the other through a collection of oral histories.
The winning works are set to be announced on Nov 29, with the top winner receiving a cash prize of $3,000, and a commissioned trophy. The judges have praised the shortlisted entries for their “empathy, creativity and narrative flair”, noting that they are all written with readers in mind.
A total of $10 million will be up for grabs at today’s Toto draw, following the last two draws when there were no winners for the Group 1 prize. This is the first time since May earlier this year that the prize amount has snowballed to over $10 million.
The full list of winners and finalists can be found here. Five writers have been shortlisted in two or more categories, with Clara Chow making history as the first writer in the program’s 30 years to be shortlisted for English fiction, English creative nonfiction and Chinese poetry. The self-published Cockman (2022) by Kenfoo won the inaugural English comic or graphic novel category for its “total lack of seriousness and compromise, and over-the-top audacity and absurdity”. Click through for a complete look at this year’s winners and finalists. The results will be released at 10.30pm today.