The Earthshot Prize (TEP), established by Prince William to protect and restore our planet, will travel to Singapore this November for an intensive week of thought leadership and innovation. At its conclusion, each of the five TEP winners will be granted catalytic funding to further advance their pioneering environmental solutions.
The NUS Singapore History Prize, launched in 2014 to commemorate Singapore’s 50th anniversary, aims to recognize important works on Singapore history while sparking public interest in it. It offers a cash prize of S$50,000; Kishore Mahbubani heads its five-member jury panel and set up the competition with assistance from an anonymous donor; at a media conference he expressed hope that it might fill any “missing pieces” from Singapore history.
He also stressed the significance of making Singapore history accessible to non-academic audiences, noting that as a former diplomat of Singapore Mahbubani believes “that Singapore’s greatest challenge in the 21st century lies not with economy but developing national identity through shared histories”.
This year’s shortlist is an eclectic mix of non-fiction writings. These works include studies of iconic Indian poets, histories of Malaysian migrants in Singapore and a book detailing the lives of two Chinese couples who founded one of Asia’s largest lotteries. One work, Home Is Where We Are (2019, available here), chronicles a Singapore-Chinese family dispersed across several cities like Sydney, New York and Connecticut.
More than 4,000 voters participated in this year’s consumer choice category of this prize, which is approximately double that of last year. Ali bin Salim, Daryl Qilin Yam, Pan Zheng Lei and rma cureess received book-buy vouchers worth S$1,000 each; please see here for the complete list of shortlisted works and authors categorized by language.
Jocelyn Chew, an author and social activist from Singapore, won the English literature category with her novel The White Woman of Sekinchan. She was recognized for using literary devices to tell the tale of “sekeran”, an amalgamation of various cultures, identities and experiences. Short film categories were equally remarkable: Thai director Thaweechok Phasom’s film, Spirits of the Black Leaves, won Best Southeast Asian Short Film while Malaysian animator Calleen Koh’s “My Wonderful Life” received Best Singapore Short Film honors. Cambodian-Singaporean director Sokheng Ling’s “Crossing”, Thai film producer Yen Thongyew’s “Spelling Test” and South African actor Mbatha Mokoto’s “Vox Humana”. Each received S$10,000. Their films will all be shown at the inaugural Asia Film Summit in Singapore on Nov 14. Media Corp of Singapore organised this festival, featuring over 100 films from around the region. Following its sustainability theme, awards ceremonies took place in theatres at state-owned media complexes with green carpets; presenters donned recycled clothing such as actor William’s 10-year-old dark green Alexander McQueen blazer and actress Mbatha’s dress made of eco-friendly material.