The Singapore Prize is a biennial award that recognises outstanding published works by Singaporeans in any of the island’s four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. Founded in 1992, the Prize is a flagship initiative of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) with support from the Singapore Literature Foundation. In addition to cash prizes, winners receive a hand-crafted trophy and a 12-month gift code for audiobook platform StoryTel. In 2021, the Prize received its most submissions to date, with a total of 235 entries, including both fiction and non-fiction works. Four authors also beat out their competition to lay claim to the popular Readers’ Favourite awards, which were determined by public vote. They are rmaa cureess (Rama Suresh), Ali bin Salim, Daryl Qilin Yam and Pan Zheng Lei (Pan Cheng Lui).
The NUS Singapore History Prize is awarded to a publication that makes a significant impact on our understanding of the history of Singapore. The work can be authored or co-authored, and may cover any time period, theme or field of Singapore history, as long as the book incorporates a substantial aspect of Singapore’s history in its narrative. It was mooted by NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani in a 2014 column for The Straits Times and is now backed by a S$350,000 endowment from the Singapore Book Council.
This year’s competition attracted more than 63 teams that submitted new concepts to eradicate poverty in Singapore, and eight were shortlisted for further mentoring, proof of concept funding, access to potential funders and dialogues with policymakers. The winning team, a collaboration between philanthropic organisation Temasek Trust, investment company Temasek Holdings and decarbonisation investment platform GenZero, will receive GBP 1 million (approximately USD 1.25 million or SGD 1.7 million) to accelerate their plan to turn their ideas into reality.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will host the 2023 Earthshot prize in Singapore, which encourages world leaders, businesses and investors to find scalable solutions for the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges. The event, which will take place over a week in November, will feature local activations where citizens can experience Earthshot solutions, as well as performances by internationally renowned musicians and artists.
The first ever Singapore Sweep was held in 1969 by the then Singapore Pools to raise funds for the construction of the National Stadium, with each ticket costing a dollar. Today, the game is played over the internet and at participating Singapore Pools outlets, with a one-in-eleven chance of winning a prize. The premium prize has also progressively increased from its original value of $400,000 in 1969.