The Singapore Prize, which celebrates the best published works across the country’s four languages, is introducing new categories to widen its scope and reach. It is now open to comics and graphic novels, as well as fiction in the form of short stories and novels. There will also be a translation award, in which works written by Singaporeans that have been translated into other languages can compete.
The prize ceremony to honor Singapore’s best writers returned to Victoria Theatre this year, following its cancellation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 4,000 readers voted for their favorite books in the consumer choice category, with titles such as rma cureess’s I Want You to Be Mine winning top spot. Other notable winners include alllkunila’s The Secret Life of a Boyband Girl and Daryl Qilin Yam’s The Book of Everything.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has established the first book prize dedicated to Singapore history. Launched in 2014 as part of the SG50 programme, it was conceived by NUS East Asian Institute chairman Wang Gungwu and administered by the department of history.
Miksic, a 71-year-old American, said his research helped “lay the foundation for a fundamental reinterpretation of Singapore’s place in Asia”. He was invited to do excavations in Fort Canning in 1984, and later joined NUS as a professor. He also worked on other historical projects, including the Empress Place and Old Parliament House.
He added that he was “delighted to receive the prize”, which comes with a cash prize of $50,000. He said he hopes his work would encourage people to take interest in Singapore history, and to consider the role of archaeology in shaping a society. “Our history is an important story,” he said. “It is a story of our struggles and successes, and our failures.”
A healthy civil society depends on people who are committed to their communities, and at critical times put the common good ahead of personal interest, he said. That spirit of altruism, he added, is what the Harvard Prize Book recognises and rewards.
Kishore Mahbubani, a senior advisor to the Singapore president and Distinguished Fellow at NUS’ Asia Research Institute, said the prize could eventually be expanded to include other media, such as movies and comics, as “the shared imagination, especially of the past, is the glue that holds societies together”. The winner of the prize will be announced in Oct. 2021.