Singapore Prize Winners Announced
The winners of the singapore prize were announced at a ceremony at Mediacorp Theatre on Tuesday. This year the award recognises five exemplary projects that work to solve key environmental issues including creating a waste-free world, cleaning the air, fixing the climate and reviving oceans. Each of the winners will receive PS1 million (S$1.7 million) to boost their projects.
The organisers of the Singapore prize have launched a new website where they will post news and updates about the awards and nomination process. They also plan to set up a blog where they will publish interviews with the finalists and the judges. The site will also serve as a platform where the public can make suggestions for nominations.
The Singapore prize is one of the oldest literary prizes in Asia. It is awarded to authors of exceptional published works in Chinese, English or Malay. The winner is given both a cash prize and an engraved trophy. It is a biennial award and is sponsored by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and the government of Singapore. The prize is considered to be the nation’s second highest literary award after the Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
It is open to all Singaporeans regardless of age, race or religion. Nominees are judged on their originality and writing style, creativity, and how they deal with important social issues. The winner of the award will be invited to write a series of articles for a leading newspaper or magazine in the country. This will help to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of the prize and its role in Singapore’s literature.
In addition to the cash prize, the winner will receive an engraved trophy and the privilege of appearing on the Singapore Literature Prize Hall of Fame. They will also be offered an opportunity to host a reading session for their works in any educational institution, library or community centre in the city-state. The event organisers have said that they will continue to promote the prize and will try to attract more renowned writers from abroad.
The award’s jury was led by Professor Wang Ping of NUS’ East Asian Institute and was made up of academic Kishore Mahbubani, entrepreneur Claire Chiang and Professor Peter A Coclanis of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The panel chose Miksic’s work because it is “fundamental in its reinterpretation of the history of Singapore and Southeast Asia.” He added that his research revealed that there were bits of historical information from literary records such as the Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan who wrote about places such as Temasek and Longyamen in the 14th century, which suggested the existence of a trading port in the region at that time.