The Singapore Prize is a biennial award for individuals or teams who demonstrate significant achievements in the area of defence science and technology. The winners are honoured with the Singapore Prize Trophy, a gold-plated medallion and a citation in a prestigious awards ceremony held at the National Museum of Singapore. The winners are also invited to give a public lecture on their work to promote knowledge of the defence industry and the importance of achieving excellence.
The 2023 Singapore prize Winners were announced at a star-studded ceremony in Mediacorp Campus hosted by actor Sterling K Brown and actress Hannah Waddingham, with special performances by the bands One Republic and Bastille and singer Bebe Rexha. The winners are GRST, WildAid Marine Programme, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra – all cutting-edge start-ups and tech companies in the race to tackle climate change.
Earlier, the winner of the NUS Singapore History Prize was announced. Hidayah Amin’s Leluhur: The Story Of Kampong Gelam won the award, which is given for a book that explores how the economic, political and social history of Singapore has changed over time. It was the first year the prize included a category for non-fiction. Other finalists were Professor John Miksic’s Singapore And The Silk Road Of The Sea, 1300-1800, which synthesised 25 years of archaeological research to reconstruct the 14th-century port, and Reviving Qixi: The Forgotten Seven Sisters Festival by Lynn Wong and Lee Kok Leong.
Also on Tuesday, the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) awards were handed out. The 2023 SLP includes a new Best Debut category for writers, translators and comic artists that is open to debut works in all four languages, as well as a Readers’ Favourite award for books based on public votes in each of the categories. The translation award has been expanded to include English-language works translated by Singaporeans, while the inaugural Readers’ Choice Award for graphic novels was won by Sonny Liew’s The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.
Former The Straits Times editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng, former Kinokuniya store director Kenny Chan and senior lecturer at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Anitha Devi Pillai were among the judges for the SLP. This year there were 224 submissions, 30 per cent more than last year. The list of finalists included a former The Straits Times writer Clarissa Oon for English creative non-fiction, Cultural Medallion recipient KTM Iqbal for Malay fiction and Nikkei Asia Review editor-at-large Gwen Robinson, who presided over the final four in each of the categories.