The Singapore Prize celebrates the best in local publishing across the country’s four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Launched in 2012, the awards program recognises literary work, education titles, professional and other non-fiction categories as well as children’s books and a prestigious Book of the Year title chosen from subsidiary award winners. It also recognises work published overseas in a Singapore language and those translated into one of the nation’s four official languages.
Winners were announced at a ceremony hosted by actor and singer Sterling K. Brown and Emmy winning actress Hannah Waddingham. The star-studded event was held at the Mediacorp Theatre in Singapore and featured a live musical performance by Bastille as well as appearances from Cate Blanchett, Lana Condor, Robert Irwin, Donnie Yen, and Bebe Rexha.
Khir Johari’s The Food Of The Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through The Archipelago has snagged the top honour at the triennial NUS Singapore History Prize, beating out five other shortlisted entries. The richly illustrated tome won the $50,000 prize, which is the highest given by any Singapore book award. Its win marks the third consecutive victory for the book, which took 14 years to complete and weighs in at 3.2kg.
Johari says his success with the book is a result of “rethinking how we look at history, and understanding that it is not just about the big movers and shakers but about the daily lives of ordinary people.” This year’s judges have also recognised the personal touch in the works of two other finalists, who were awarded special commendations without attendant cash awards. These were Reviving Qixi: Singapore’s Forgotten Seven Sisters Festival by Lynn Wong and Lee Kok Leong and Theatres Of Memory: Industrial Heritage Of 20th Century Singapore by Loh Kah Seng, Alex Tan, Koh Keng We, Tan Teng Phee and Juria Toramae.
The awards ceremony for the 2023 Earthshot Prize was held in Singapore this week. Launched in 2020 by Britain’s Prince William’s Royal Foundation charity, the award funds innovative solutions to global environmental challenges. The ceremony saw winners from Accion Andina, GRST, S4S Technologies and WildAid Marine Program honoured for their work.
The 2023 prize is the fourth in a series of competitions that seek to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in Southeast Asia. In addition to the main award, the competition includes a mentorship program and an online safety challenge, designed to help young people learn better digital citizenship. It is a good opportunity for entrepreneurs from the region to showcase their capabilities and grow their business globally. In the challenge, participants will build AI models to help filter harmful content from the internet, allowing people to have more safe and productive online experiences. This is a joint initiative with Temasek and GenZero, and supported by The Social Entrepreneurship Council. For more information, click here. The deadline for the online challenge is March 31.