Founded in 1968, the TOTO game is a popular lottery-style game with a top prize of $500,000. The prize money is pooled from all ticket sales and if no winner is found, the jackpot will roll over to the next draw. In addition to the main prize, winners can also win other prizes such as free tickets, sports memorabilia and electronics. TOTO stands for Totalisator and Toto, a combination of the words “totalisator” and “lotto”.
The Singapore Prize, administered by NUS History Department, was launched to recognise the best in Singapore literature on local history. According to NUS Professor Kishore Mahbubani, who mooted the idea in his Straits Times column last year, the prize will encourage more people to write about and publish Singapore’s past.
He added: “The famous American social scientist Benedict Anderson said that nations are ‘imagined communities’, and a shared imagination, especially in history, is a critical glue holding societies together.”
In its inaugural year, the S$1 million prize was awarded to an Indian maker of solar-powered dryers, a marketplace for soil carbon and groups that restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing. It is hoped that the awards will help accelerate these innovative solutions, and bring about tangible action to repair the planet.
Prince William, who launched the 10-year Earthshot Prize in 2020 through his Royal Foundation charity, attended the award ceremony on Tuesday and met some of the finalists. He wore a green suit by British label Alexander McQueen, a sustainable brand that only uses leather and suede in its products. The glitzy event also featured performances by the bands One Republic and Bastille, with US singer Bebe Rexha. It also saw the Duke of Cambridge try his hand at dragon boating and meet Singaporeans working to combat climate change.
During his stay in the city-state, the Prince will visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where he will be shown conservation initiatives such as reforesting and planting trees in urban areas. He will also visit a community farm and learn about sustainable food production. He will attend a United for Wildlife summit featuring representatives of law enforcement agencies and businesses tackling the global trade in illegal wildlife products, which is estimated to be worth $20 billion a year.
In his first public engagement since becoming the Duke of Cambridge, he will also meet members of the public to discuss the challenges facing the world’s environment and what can be done to tackle them. He will also visit Paco Funworld at Bugis+ to find out how the new prize cap has affected its patrons. Most of those CNA spoke to were unaware that the prize cap had been introduced, and those who were aware were unconcerned about the impact on their spending habits. Many were also unsure when the restriction will end. For example, Ms Chia Kok Yong, who visits Paco Funworld with her children once a month, did not know that the cap was coming.