Singapore Prize 2024
SG Prize provides businesses with a platform for building networks to strengthen their competitive advantages on the global stage. It honors pioneering achievements in science, technology and innovation that advance Singapore’s capabilities and international standing.
Kishore Mahbubani, founder of the prize’s five-member Jury Panel and former diplomat from Singapore noted the increasing significance of fostering national identity among Singaporeans. To do this effectively, we must be able to talk about our collective history in ways which are accessible and meaningful for non-academics alike.
To further this goal, the 2024 Singapore Prize will feature two new categories for translators and comic artists alongside its existing ones for writers of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction published in Singapore’s four languages. This move will give more local authors an opportunity to win this coveted prize.
Singapore’s History Prize will be presented in June 2024 and come with a cash prize of S$50,000. Nominations can be submitted by anyone, including authors themselves; books that contribute significantly to our understanding of Singapore history and culture should have been published between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2024 are eligible.
Additionally, a Special Mention award will be bestowed to an entry that demonstrates personal significance to Singaporean history. Mr Chui Seng Wah’s entry, documenting his father’s journey from China and subsequent establishment as a tailor in Singapore won this coveted honour.
Additionally to the SG Prize, other awards recognize individuals for outstanding community achievements. One such award is Harvard Prize Book Singapore which recognizes people who have gone above and beyond in their service to society; winners receive both a memento as well as up to S$380,000 from Temasek Foundation as prize funds.
Other awards include the NUS-Singapore History Prize, which was launched in 2014 to foster engagement with Singaporean history. It recognizes books that make significant contributions towards our understanding of past and present Singapore, with clear historical themes.
The NUS-Singapore History Prize is administered by the Department of History within NUS. Mr Mahbubani will preside over an esteemed Jury Panel comprised of Emeritus Professor John Miksic from the NUS Department of Southeast Asian Studies; Prof Tan Tai Yong, President of Singapore University of Social Sciences; Professor Peter A. Coclanis from UNC Chapel Hill Global Research Institute Directorship; and economist Dr Lam San Ling. They will select their 2024 winner. The NUS-Singapore History Prize is sponsored by the Singapore Economic Development Board and offers the only national history prize awarded through public vote; before, awards were determined solely by jury. For more information about this competition, visit NUS website; prize winners will be recognized with awards from Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in an award ceremony on 17 June.