The Lee Kuan Yew Singapore Prize
In a move to recognise the important contributions of Singaporeans in the arts, the Government of Singapore has instituted an annual award named after renowned arts advocate and pioneer Lee Kuan Yew. This award will be given to an exceptional literary work which has contributed significantly to advancing the arts in Singapore, enriching our cultural heritage, and motivating writers, readers and the general public.
This year, the prize will be awarded to a book which chronicles the life and death of Sam Hua, one of Singapore’s most dangerous criminals who was responsible for several deaths in the early 1950s. The biography by Vincent Tong captures both the deadly nature of the gangster as well as his effectiveness as an effective leader, and has garnered critical acclaim from both local and foreign critics.
The shortlist for this year’s Singapore prize was announced in a ceremony on April 23, with SUSS chancellor and former President Madam Halimah Yacob as guest of honour. The book prize is worth $30,000 and is Singapore’s richest literary award. The winner will be named at a dinner at Conrad Centennial Singapore on May 23.
Britain’s Prince William recently visited Singapore to unveil the winners of his Earthshot prize, which he established three years ago to inspire inventors to find technologies that can protect the world from climate change. Celebrities such as Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and actors Donnie Yen and Nomzano Mbatha walked the green carpet for the ceremony, which was the first in Asia, to celebrate five winners whose solutions ranged from solar-powered dryers to combating food waste to making electric car batteries more efficient.
The NUS Singapore History Prize was introduced in 2014 to cultivate interest in and understanding of the nation’s past while encouraging dialogue about its unique place in the world. Administered by the Department of History at NUS’ Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, it is open to works in English written or translated by creators from any country. It seeks to broaden definitions of history by soliciting writings that examine different time periods, themes and fields that are pertinent to Singapore’s history.
NUS’ Mahbubani added that it could be expanded to include movies, comic books and other formats in the future. “History is sometimes told better in other ways, for example in a film like 12 Years A Slave,” he said. “We might expand this in the future, but our ultimate goal is to help citizens develop a more accurate picture of their own history.”
NUS’ ranking was developed using the latest available data and takes into account the following criteria:
