The winners and finalists of this year’s Singapore Prize will showcase their innovative, impactful solutions to repair the planet, including solar-powered dryers from an Indian maker, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that make electric car batteries cleaner, restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing. Britain’s Prince William, whose Royal Foundation charity launched the 10-year award program in 2020, said at Tuesday’s ceremony in Singapore that the 15 winners and finalists demonstrated “hope does remain” as climate change continues to worsen globally.
This is the first time the prize has offered a top award for fiction and non-fiction works in all four of Singapore’s official languages, Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. Five writers were shortlisted for two or more categories, and Clara Chow became the first writer in the program’s history to win in the English fiction and Chinese poetry categories.
In addition to highlighting the most important work on Singapore’s past, the prize was created to spur interest in and discussion of the city-state’s place in Asian history and culture. Its goal is to make the complexities and nuances of Singapore’s history more accessible to non-academic audiences.
Prof Miksic’s book, titled The Origin of Singapore: Reinterpreting Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Age, won the top prize for English and Malay non-fiction. It explores bits of historical information and literature, such as references to Kampong Gelam in 14th century China, that have been interpreted as a reference to Singapore.
He cited the work of two previous Singapore history prize winners — Nomzamo Mbatha for her story about a former slave and Kevin Blackburn for his examination of the plight of comfort women — as inspiration for his research.
The other winners of the top prizes for fiction and non-fiction were Wesley Leon Aroozoo, whose work examines Singapore’s history and legacy in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic; Daryl Qilin Yam, a renowned Singaporean literary figure who won for her novel The Merdeka Generation; and Pan Zheng Lei, for his exploration of an infamous 19th century murder case. The three authors will receive S$10,000 (US$6,300) each.
A total of 24 winners and finalists were awarded in the business category, with winners including an e-commerce platform that helps farmers connect with buyers, and a company that makes drones to detect and protect livestock from disease. Other finalists include an online platform that matches employers with qualified workers, and a website that provides users with information on the most affordable properties in Singapore. The winning companies will each receive S$10,000 in cash, as well as a customized marketing campaign to help them scale their businesses. The full list of finalists is available here. This year’s competition was judged by a panel of renowned judges, which included entrepreneur and investor William Tang, founder and managing director of KKR Asia Advisors. They were selected from more than 50 nominations, which were submitted by entrepreneurs across Asia. The event was sponsored by the EY-Bank of Singapore Asean Entrepreneurial Excellence 2024 platform.