The winners of the singapore prize were announced at an event at the Victoria Theatre on August 25. The awards are backed by the Singapore Book Council and DBS, and are designed to recognise authors for works that explore the nation’s history. The Singapore Prize was founded by philanthropists and is one of the largest literary prizes in Asia. The judges of the prize are literary experts from different disciplines and look for work that resonates with Singaporeans.
This year, a total of 12 top awards were given out in the various categories, including the new Readers’ Choice category. The winners are based on votes from readers, and this year the number of voters doubled. The top three winners received a cash prize, a trophy and a gift code for the audiobook platform Storytel. The rest of the winners were finalists and won book vouchers worth up to S$1,000.
Authors from all over the world have submitted their works to the prize this year. Some of the winners include writers from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. They have all written about their country, culture and traditions in their respective languages. The judges were impressed with the quality of submissions, and said that this was a very tough competition.
The finalists of the Singapore Prize are a mixture of fiction and nonfiction titles, and they all deal with different aspects of Singaporean life. They were chosen from a shortlist of ten books, which were assessed by a jury of literary experts from across the different disciplines. The judging process was guided by the prize’s mission, which is to encourage reading about Singaporean history, and to increase the understanding of the people of the nation of their own heritage and past.
In the English language category, a few new faces made their way into the list of winners. Among them are first-time winners alllkunilaa (Azhagunila), innnpaa (Inbha), Jee Leong Koh, rma cureess (Rama Suresh) and Suratman Markasan. Other names on the list of winners include nonagenarian Wang Gungwu, Yeow Kai Chai and literature pioneer Edwin Thumboo.
During the award ceremony, a special Earthshot prize was also given to companies that are leading in solutions to save the planet. The prize will be used to accelerate the winners’ projects and bring them to market, and it will be accompanied by a series of local activations focusing on the 2023 cohort of Earthshot solutions.
Aside from the main prizes, there were other accolades for organisations that are leaders in green growth and sustainability. The Greenest Organisation award went to ASM, which was lauded for its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. Other winners included the biotech firm Genex, a software company called APAC Insider, and the open source graph data platform Neo4j. The full list of winners is available on the website of the Singapore Prize.