A Singaporean has yet to win a Nobel prize, but that shouldn’t lead to hand-wringing. Instead, we should celebrate the fact that Singaporeans have won numerous other prizes and awards – from the prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Award to scholarships and even a green-card lottery jackpot.
Britain’s Prince William arrived in Singapore this week for his first visit to the country since 2012. The heir to the British throne was here for the third-annual Earthshot prize ceremony, which awarded five winners in categories such as nature protection, clean air, ocean revival and waste elimination. Celebrities including Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and actors Donnie Yen and Nomzano Mbatha joined him for the event, which was the first to be held in Asia.
The event, held at the Ritz Carlton-Millenia, showcased Singapore companies and individuals who have raised the standards of various niche sectors across the world. The winners included firms who have pushed the boundaries of design, innovation and excellence in business. The winners will be able to leverage on the global recognition of the awards as an effective platform for branding and marketing.
Singaporean authors have also nabbed several coveted literary awards and accolades recently, such as the prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Award and a top spot in a bestselling book list. However, some writers have run into obstacles – such as the National Arts Council (NAC), which withheld part of a grant to author Jeremy Tiang for his novel on the leftist movement’s place in the nation’s history.
On the non-fiction front, a number of books have been nominated for this year’s NUS History Prize, such as Imperial Creatures (2019, available here), which looks at the relationship between humans and animals in colonial Singapore, and Kamaladevi Aravindan’s Sembawang (2020, available here), which recounts life in an estate in the heart of the city. Other nominees include non-fiction with a more personal slant, like Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam (2019, available here), by Hidayah Amin.
The prize was established to recognise and honour individuals, groups or organisations that have contributed significantly to the development of Singapore in various fields of endeavours, from the arts to community service. It carries a cash award of $50,000 and is open to publications in English that have made an impact on our understanding of Singapore’s past, published between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2024. Nominations are reviewed by an independent panel and the winner will be announced in October. The NUS History Prize was launched in 2014, and is co-sponsored by the National Library of Singapore and NTUC Social Welfare Fund. The award is funded by the Government of Singapore through the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The Ministry of Education and the National Kidney Foundation also provide support to the prize. For more information, visit the official website of the NUS History Prize.