SG Prizes 2024 – Stories of Average Singaporeans in the Spotlight
SG Prizes 2024: The stories of average Singaporeans are in the spotlight
The lives of ordinary people have taken centre stage in this year’s shortlist for the NUS Singapore History Prize. The six compelling works on the list forego the traditional view of history as a record of big-name movers and shakers. This includes novel Sembawang by Kamaladevi Aravindan, which details life in a family estate over five decades, and nonfiction work with a personal slant like Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam (2020, available here) by Hidayah Amin, which shines a light on the past of a place many now know only as a tourist attraction.
This year’s winner will be announced in October. The NUS History Prize is a new initiative to celebrate the nation’s history and encourage Singaporeans to discover, explore, understand and engage with it. The winner will receive a monetary award of $50,000.
Also on Tuesday, a maker of solar-powered dryers and organisations that help make electric car batteries cleaner, restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing were among those awarded the Earthshot prize at a ceremony in Singapore. The award, launched in 2020 by Prince William’s Royal Foundation charity, funds innovative solutions to global environmental challenges.
The winners were selected from 15 finalists, including a global non-profit that trains rescued workers to repair and build solar panels, and a social enterprise that makes compost out of waste. In addition to the cash prizes, the winners will get support to scale up their initiatives.
Former Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, who chairs the prize’s jury panel, said at the ceremony that the 21st century will be a “century of the Asian Renaissance”. He added: “The biggest challenge to Singapore now is not economic but in building a strong sense of identity through a shared imagination, and a shared memory.”
A total of 17 writers and translators were shortlisted across the four categories, with two getting special commendations. Clara Chow, who was shortlisted in the English fiction and Chinese poetry categories, is the first writer in the programme’s 30 years to be so recognised. She also won the Best Southeast Asian Short Film award for Thai director Thaweechok Phasom’s documentary Spirits of Black Leaves.