The 2023 Winners of the Earthshot Prize were announced on Tuesday 7th November at a star-studded awards ceremony in Singapore. The event brought together the most innovative start-ups and tech companies from around the world that are leading the charge for a clean energy future. They joined a host of global leaders at a media and investor reception to celebrate the winners, which included Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies and Boomitra.
Several other notable names also took home prizes including National Institute of Education senior lecturer Anitha Devi Pillai, whose short story cycle ‘The Unwanted Woman’ was named the most outstanding book in English for the year. Her work was described as “skilful, assured, comedic at times, and profoundly moving,” while a jury panel led by poet Cyril Wong called it a collection that shows with “ruthlessly principled observation and remorseless precision the damage women inflict on each other”.
Khir Johari’s mammoth tome The Food of the Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through the Archipelago won the triennial Singapore History Prize, the richest pot for a local book award. It beat six other books in the contest, which was established by the NUS Department of History last year to promote writing that champions mindsets and values important to Singapore. SUSS, which administers the award, listed equality, diversity, religious harmony, meritocracy, resilience and an emphasis on education among those values.
The prize’s nominating committee, which reviewed 31 books by publishers, was chaired by NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani. He wrote in a Straits Times column that the prize was inspired by American social scientist Benedict Anderson’s idea that nations are a “community of shared imagination”. “History is a crucial glue that holds societies together,” he said.
In the past, SCCA Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of the Sports Car Club of America, has used bucket-list sweepstakes prizes to raise funds for everything from the SCCA Archives to SCCA Women on Track scholarships and region development grants. But it’s outdone itself this time with a prize that would put you and a friend in the grandstands at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix.
When CNA approached one such player, who did not want to be identified in full, she was counting a thick stack of trading cards. She told CNA she visits the arcade at least once a week and spends about S$30 per visit. “The prize doesn’t matter that much to me, but I do enjoy the games,” she said. “If I had a lot of money, maybe I’d do it more often.” — CNA’s Samson Lee contributed to this report.