The NUS Singapore History Prize 2024
During his visit to Singapore, the heir to the British throne was also given a tour of the 40-meter high Rain Vortex, the world’s largest indoor waterfall. It was illuminated green to mark his arrival and he was presented with a tree planted in his honour in the indoor garden at its base.
The heir to the British throne’s trip to Singapore is part of a three-week tour of Southeast Asia to promote his work to combat global warming. He will be meeting local organizations and businesses that are working on solutions to protect and restore the planet. During the visit, he will also take part in an event to encourage more people to get involved with protecting wildlife, including meeting representatives from law enforcement agencies, conservation groups and businesses that are working together to fight the illegal trade in species like tiger and pangolins.
This year, Kampung Admiralty became the third community or public architecture project to claim the WAF prize, following post-earthquake reconstruction in a village in China’s Yunnan province and an extension to the National Museum of Poland by OMA and Ole Scheeren. The stacked apartment complex is designed by the Singapore-based firm and is the first building from Singapore to win the prize in its 28-year history. The evening also saw the first female winner of the English poetry category, Marylyn Tan’s arcane debut collection Gaze Back, which took on taboo subjects from menstruation to sexuality. Its title was inspired by the Greek myth of Gorgon Medusa, whose unblinking gaze turns men to stone.
NUS Singapore History Prize 2024
The NUS Singapore History Prize is awarded to an outstanding publication in English (written or translated) that makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the history of Singapore and its wider region. It is open to book-length works that address any time period, theme or field of study in Singapore’s history, as well as creative works that have a clear historical focus.
A total of 26 submissions were received, and their quality led judges to issue, for the first time, two special commendations without attendant cash awards. They are Theatres Of Memory: Industrial Heritage Of 20th Century Singapore by Lynn Wong and Lee Kok Leong and Reviving Qixi: Singapore’s Forgotten Seven Sisters Festival by Loh Kah Seng, Alex Tan, Koh Keng We, and Tan Teng Phee.
A panel of five judges – former ambassador Kishore Mahbubani; historian and academic Prof John Miksic; Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of the Singapore University of Social Sciences; and anthropologist and museum curator Dr Lam San Ling – selected this year’s winners. They were congratulated by the organisers of the prize at the NUS campus in a ceremony attended by about 200 guests. Among them was the surviving son of a Malaysian man who was murdered by terrorists in 2016. The prize is supported by an anonymous donor and the Ministry of Education. The winning publications will be launched at a ceremony on 7 November in conjunction with the third annual Earthshot Week, where global leaders and businesses are invited to explore exciting opportunities to accelerate and scale the environmental solutions of the TEP finalists.