The Singapore Prize 2021 Shortlist
The Department of History at NUS launched the Singapore Prize in 2014 to spur interest in and understanding of Singapore’s history, particularly for non-academic readers. The prize rewards publications that make Singapore’s complexities and nuances accessible. This year, the shortlist includes a book that eschews the notion of history as the record of big movers and shakers by looking at life in an estate over five decades. The public can vote for their favourite publication by filling out a ballot form at any Singapore Pools outlet until October 2, 2023.
This is Publishing Perspectives’ 131st awards-related report in the 137 days since our 2022 operations began on January 3. More on this story and others can be found here.
In a glitzy event in Singapore, Prince William presented this year’s winners of the Earthshot Prize to businesses, individuals, and organizations tackling some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. During the star-studded awards ceremony at Mediacorp Campus, Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra were announced as this year’s winners.
Previously known as the President’s Science and Technology Awards, this is the third time the prize has been awarded. The inaugural winner in 2018 was Professor John Miksic for his work Singapore And the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800 which provides archaeological evidence to demonstrate that the earliest settlements in Singapore are over 700 years old. In 2021, the prize was won by Hidayah Amin for her book Leluhur: Kampong Gelam, Singapore’s Historically Significant District which highlights how Kampong Gelam was transformed through economic and cultural changes in the last 200 years.
The award’s judges say the winners “represent a wide range of innovative solutions addressing some of the biggest global challenges.” The prize is supported by Temasek Trust, the Temasek Foundation for Research and Innovation, the National Environment Agency, and Conservation International.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore residents stepped up to volunteer in various community projects to help those around them. These volunteers helped in areas as diverse as helping the elderly, delivering food to families without kitchens, and cleaning up their neighbourhoods. One such exemplary act of kindness was done by a student from Institute of Technical Education College Central, Ang Mo Kio, who took his team to distribute packed food and grocery items, as well as thank-you cards to Town Council cleaners.
A Singaporean author and translator, Shelly Bryant divides her year between Shanghai and Singapore, where she is a senior editor at Epigram Books. Her translations include Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls and You Jin’s In Time Out of Place, and she has also edited poetry anthologies for Alban Lake and Rinchen Books. She is currently working on a book about Singaporean literature and culture. In addition to her writing, she teaches Chinese at SMU and is a fellow at the Likhabad Literary Arts Centre.