A Singapore prize has become one of the world’s richest for local fiction and non-fiction works. The inaugural Dr Alan HJ Chan Spirit of Singapore Book Prize, launched on April 18, comes with $30,000 – the biggest pot for any Singapore book award. It aims to promote writing that champions mindsets and values that are important to Singapore’s shaping as a global city. These include equality, diversity, religious harmony and a spirit of “meritocracy, pragmatism, resilience and an emphasis on education, innovation and community”.
The winner was announced Tuesday at a star-studded event held in partnership with Singapore Pools and Mediacorp Campus. The shortlist was revealed in July and included works such as Innnpa by Ying Xian, Seven Hundred Years: A History of Singapore by Meira Chand and Rma cureess by Rama Suresh. The prize will also see the winners receive a grant of up to US$20,000 to support their publishing efforts, with finalists getting an additional US$25,000 for distribution and promotion.
Other winners included the book The Story of the Lost Continent by Tan Teck Yin, which won the ‘Most Popular Readers’ Choice’ category. It was followed by Ali bin Salim’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Daryl Qilin Yam’s The Way Home, and Jee Leong Koh’s Snow at 5 PM: Translations of an Insignificant Japanese Poet. Lastly, the literary pioneer Edwin Thumboo took the top prize in the Chinese poetry category for his collection The Lighthouse of the South.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s Sonny Liew has been awarded three Eisner awards, often referred to as the Oscars of the comic world, for his graphic novel about the life of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. The work also won the Best International Comic at Denmark’s Pingprisen awards earlier this year and is widely regarded as a breakthrough achievement in Asian comics.
Singapore has a strong reputation for being a hub of cutting-edge innovation and entrepreneurship. But it’s also a leading regional player in the fight against climate change, with a number of start-ups and tech companies at the forefront of this movement. This was highlighted at the 2023 Earthshot winners announcement on Tuesday – which saw Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program and S4S Technologies crowned as winners in their respective categories.
The royal visit has also seen the launch of a new online tool that provides an overview of climate-related initiatives and projects in Singapore. The website was developed by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to help people better understand their city’s environmental efforts and what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint. It will also help them find out which projects and organizations they can partner with to take action on climate change. It is available on the government’s OneSingapore website. The tool was endorsed by the Prime Minister’s Office. It aims to encourage people to engage in climate action, even if it is small steps at a time. A similar tool, called Greener Singapore, was previously released by the ministry in 2012. The site provides an at-a-glance guide to Singapore’s climate action and will be updated periodically.