Singapore Prize Winners Announced
This year’s Singapore prize competition is open to works from any country — aside from its top award, two honourable mentions and audience choice winner are also provided. Organisers also note this will be the inaugural competition to include short film.
The Singapore Prize was launched in 2014 to honour publications that have made significant contributions to our understanding of our history. Administered by the NUS Department of History, it comes with a $50,000 prize. First mooted in an article written for Straits Times by distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani of NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani; its judges include novelist Meira Chand; historians Prof Peter Coclanis, Lam San Ling and John Miksic; art keluaran sgp curator and educator Suhaili Osman and Beatrice Chong;
Attesting to Singapore’s growing diversity, over half of this year’s shortlisted authors were making their literary debut. Suratman Markasan (Honing the Pen, Volume 2) and Wang Gungwu (Home is Where We Are Going) became history-making oldest winners at 91 years old respectively; Tamil writer rma cureess secured two awards – in nonfiction and reader’s favourite categories respectively.
The three-month judging process culminated in a ceremony held at Victoria Theatre on Thursday to announce the winning books. The shortlist included nonfiction and fiction works, with nonfiction tending towards historical topics. Hidayah Amin won for nonfiction work with Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Glam by Hidayah Amin; this book sheds light on her birthplace: Gedung Kuning (Yellow Mansion), an important heritage building at the heart of Kampong Glam.
Award recipients were recognised not only for their material contributions to Singaporean culture and society, but also their work to bring greater gender equality in sports to light. Finalists for these awards included National University of Singapore students who created an app that helps people find parking spaces instantly; another group brought women in industry together for discussion of struggles and support of each other;
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