A new translation category for Singapore literature has been reopened and another prize has been expanded. The Singapore Book Prize (SBP) has reopened for submissions, and has added a translation category to its existing categories for fiction and non-fiction. In addition, the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) has reopened to recognise work in English by debut authors, and now carries an additional cash prize.
The SBP has also renamed its Readers’ Favourite award to reflect the increased importance of translation in its judging criteria, and has moved to recognise works in Chinese and Malay alongside English. It has also reopened the Epigram Books Fiction Prize (EBFP) to recognise unpublished fiction manuscripts in all languages, including translations, as well as giving the genre of comics and graphic novels its own category.
Britain’s Prince William joined celebrities on the green carpet for this year’s Earthshot Awards ceremony in Singapore, which saw five winners ranging from solar-powered dryers to combat food waste to making electric car batteries cleaner announced. The Prince of Wales, who is patron for the event, said all the finalists showed that “hope does remain” as the planet faces environmental threats such as climate change. He was speaking at the first ceremony to be held in Asia, which was hosted by actors Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K Brown.
Archaeologist John Miksic won this year’s SBP for his book, ‘Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800’. The four-member jury, led by NUS history department head Wang Gungwu, picked the book over 29 other entries to be the winner. It was described as a fundamental reinterpretation of Singapore’s history, which challenges some of the ideas popularised by earlier historians, such as the idea that Singapore began in 1819 as a trading post for China.
Miksic is a specialist in Southeast Asian archaeology and has been involved in excavation projects in Singapore, such as those at Fort Canning. He was honoured for his work in raising the public awareness of Singapore’s heritage, which is a part of its identity as a city-state.
This year’s other prizes were awarded to companies for their branding efforts, and to a not-for-profit agency to help prevent suicides. The Special Merit award for the best private-sector branding effort went to fashion label Ola, while the Public Sector Branding award was given to suicide-prevention agency Samaritans of Singapore.
Among the 15 Earthshot finalists that were recognised for their solutions to climate change, two were from the UK – Norwich-based Colorfix, which makes natural fabric dyes, and London-based Enzo, which produces tyres for electric cars.
NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani, who mooted the Earthshot prize in a Straits Times opinion column, said there may be plans to expand the range of categories that can qualify for the prizes. He used the example of the movie 12 Years a Slave to say that nations are ‘imagined communities’, and that a shared imagination, in particular through history, is a critical glue holding societies together.