Day: June 6, 2024

The Singapore prize is an annual literary award given by the Government of Singapore in memory of Lee Kuan Yew, founder and first president of Singapore. The prize aims to recognize an outstanding publication in English that has made a significant impact on our understanding of Singapore’s history. The prize is open to non-fiction works relating to any aspect of Singapore’s past published between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2024. The book must be authored or co-authored, and must have clear historical themes.

This year, the winner of the Singapore prize was a biography of Sam Hua, one of Singapore’s most notorious gangsters, who was responsible for many deaths. Written by Vincent Tong, the book chronicles his life and death with meticulous detail and extensive research. Tong’s work captures both Sam Hua’s deadly nature and inspiring personality.

Other books that made the shortlist for the singapore prize include A Life In Pictures, which chronicles Singapore’s development into a global financial hub, and State of Emergency, which follows an extended family through leftist political movements and detentions in Singapore and Malaysia. All of the shortlisted books approach history from a layperson’s perspective, as it is important to understand how events affect the average citizen.

The winner of the singapore prize is chosen by a five-member jury panel that includes the head of the National Library, a representative from NUS Museum and two academics. The award comes with a monetary prize of S$50,000. The winner is expected to give a public lecture and attend an awards ceremony in 2024. The prize is administered by the National Library of Singapore, with funding from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

Britain’s Prince William lauded the winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize at a ceremony in Singapore, saying the 15 finalists showed that “hope does remain” despite the ongoing pandemic and climate change. The finalists, including an Indian maker of solar-powered dryers, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that help make electric car batteries cleaner, restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing, will receive catalytic prize money to scale up their environmental solutions.

The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by the Prince of Wales through his charity, the Royal Foundation. He will travel to Singapore next month to showcase the winners and their innovations at events he will host in partnership with local government, universities and companies. The visit is part of his global tour focusing on tackling climate change. He will also launch a new challenge aimed at advancing AI to tackle online safety, especially in regions with limited data on harmful content.