Singapore Prize Winners Announced at a Glitzy Awards Ceremony

There are a lot of prizes and awards given out in Singapore, from the prestigious Harvard Prize Book to the swanky Entrepreneur of the Year award. But the one that really matters is the President’s Science and Technology Awards, a high-profile accolade aimed at amplifying solutions to global climate change. The winners were celebrated at a glitzy ceremony hosted by actor William, who wore a 10-year-old dark green blazer as part of a sustainability theme. He and other presenters walked a “green carpet” made from recycled fabric. Bands One Republic and Bastille, and U.S. singer Bebe Rexha performed for the crowd, which included Singapore ministers and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

This year, the prize had 49 titles on its shortlist. That’s smaller than the pool of 192 submissions in 2021, though organizers say the lower numbers reflect the pandemic’s impact on publishing. In the English literary category, 91-year-old National University of Singapore professor emeritus Peter Ellinger won for Down Memory Lane: Peter Ellinger’s Memoirs (2023). Ellinger, who was instrumental in transforming Singapore into the green garden city it is today, is the oldest winner of the prize.

The best non-fiction prize went to Hidayah Amin for her book Leluhur: The History Of Singapore’s Kampong Gelam, which focuses on the community’s transformation from a village to an urban hub. Her work received praise for its ability to “tell a fascinating story with just the right amount of detail.” The best non-fiction prize also went to academic John Miksic for his work Singapore And The Silk Road Of The Sea, 1300-1800 — which synthesises 25 years of archaeological research to give readers a fuller picture of the port’s development.

In the English translation category, Jeremy Tiang won for his work on Chinese author Zhang Yueran’s Cocoon (2022). His book received praise for its “total lack of seriousness and compromise and over-the-top audacity” that helped bring out the novel’s absurdity. The Singapore Literature Prize also awarded the inaugural English comic or graphic novel prize to Kenfoo’s self-published Cockman (2022), in which a chicken from another dimension finds itself stranded on Earth in human form. The prize also honored the best Malay and Tamil language fiction with the prizes for Sembawang (2017, available here) by Suratman Markasan and Dearest Intimate (2022) by Suchen Christine Lim.

The awards were presented at a glitzy ceremony in a theater in state-owned Media Corp. The finalists wore eco-friendly gowns and suits from designers like Alexander McQueen, with actress Mbatha wearing a bright navy blue dress by the label known for its sustainable fashion. The show was co-hosted by actors Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K. Brown and featured performances by the bands Bastille and One Republic. The event was broadcast to an audience of more than a million people on MediaCorp TV channels and online. In addition to the prize winners, the audience also saw a special performance by the popular local dance group Yishun Ensemble.