The Singapore Prize honours individuals who have gone “above and beyond” to perform acts of kindness and care for others in their community. Finalists were applauded by Britain’s Prince William as “lights of optimism”. One Hong Kong entrepreneur working on cleaner lithium-ion battery for electric cars while another tackles illegal fishing to support ocean conservation will receive up to PS1 Million each at Tuesday’s awards ceremony in Singapore.
Jeremy Tiang was awarded the inaugural prize, for translating Zhang Yueran’s Cocoon (2022). This novel follows two childhood friends as they discuss dark secrets from their shared past in light of Cultural Revolution.
A second award, the Singapore Prize for Literature, has been established to encourage writers to address complex global issues through literature. Kishore Mahbubani – also a distinguished fellow at NUS Asia Research Institute – hopes this prize will encourage Singaporeans to reflect upon what makes them special and strengthen national pride by exploring their collective history.
Mahbubani first proposed the prize in his Straits Times column and has stated that Singapore’s greatest challenge right now lies not in economic development but instead with creating an identity through shared history. According to American social scientist Benedict Anderson, nations are imagined communities, and this common imagination holds societies together,” writes Mahbubani.
Later this month, winners of the third Singapore Prize will be revealed at a media conference chaired by Mr Mahbubani and featuring Emeritus Professor John Miksic from NUS Department of Southeast Asian Studies; Professor Tan Tai Yong as President of NUS University of Social Sciences; and economist Dr Lam San Ling. Established through a generous donation from Confucian scholar Alan Chan in 2014, this prize has become increasingly competitive since its inaugural presentation.
NUS has announced a shortlist of six works for its inaugural Singapore Prize in History, challenging traditional perceptions of history as simply chronicling major figures or events. Instead, book-length publications in contention take an intimate look back over time in Singapore with academic titles like Seven Hundred Years: A History Of Singapore (2019; available here) and Kamaladevi Aravindan’s Sembawang (2020; also available here).
As well as these titles, the list also features memoir and historical fiction works. A distinguished jury panel composed of historians, educators and public intellectuals will select a final winner in October from among these titles; Singapore Prize for Literature winner will also be announced along with special commendations without cash prizes for books on Singapore industrial heritage and poetry books. Check out all shortlisted titles here!