Singapore Prize Winners Announced
The Singapore prize is a literary award that recognizes works that have contributed significantly to the understanding of Singapore and its place in the world. The prize is a biennial award, presented in English, Malay, and Tamil, with prizes in each language and categories for fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.
The winner receives a cash prize of S$200,000, and an honorary plaque. The prize is open to writers from all over the world, and the winning book will be translated into several languages. In addition, the publisher of the winning work will receive a grant of S$200,000 to help with the publishing costs of future editions of the book. The prize is open to both self-published and traditional books.
Singapore’s history is not well understood by the general public, and the aim of the prize is to encourage engagement with the subject. The prize also aims to make the complexities and nuances of Singapore’s history more accessible to a wider audience.
Kishore Mahbubani, the Distinguished Fellow at NUS’ Asia Research Institute and the chair of the prize’s jury panel, said that nations are “imagined communities” held together by a shared sense of history. He added that the biggest challenge facing Singapore today is not economic, but building a sense of national identity through a strong connection with its past.
In the category of history, the prize awarded a prize to Professor John Miksic for his book, Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800 which provides archaeological evidence that suggests Singapore’s story began more than 700 years ago. The prize for literary nonfiction was given to Hidayah Amin, for her book Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam which explores the city-state’s changing social, cultural and economic identity over time. The prize for poetry was won by Jeremy Tiang, who was commended in the Malay and Chinese categories as well.
This year’s Singapore Literature Prize was marked by the introduction of three new categories: Best Debut, Graphic Novel and English Translation. All shortlisted works were eligible for the new categories, and a Readers’ Favourite award was based on public votes. The new categories will be introduced to the public at a series of outreach events, including talks by shortlisted authors in bookshops and schools.
The awards were announced at a ceremony in the National Trades Union Congress Centre, and the prize winners will receive their cheques on Monday. The other finalists received commendations. More details are available on the Singapore Prize website. For those who missed the event, catch up on the latest news via the prize’s Facebook page or telegram channel. The full list of winners is here. You can also see the shortlisted works at Bras Basah National Library, level 9.