The Singapore prize is awarded for a work that has made a significant contribution to the understanding of Singapore history. It is open to works in English (or translations) of any time period or theme, but with a clear historical perspective.
The Prize is awarded every three years and is based on the recommendation of a panel of judges, which includes distinguished historians and scholars from around the world. The winner will receive $50,000 Singapore dollars and will be honoured at a ceremony.
This year’s prize has six shortlisted entries – two non-fiction and four fiction — with a focus on stories about everyday people and their lives, rather than big movers and shakers in the country’s history. The entries in the Singapore prize’s 2021 pool range from academic tomes to novels with a personal slant. The non-fiction titles on the shortlist include Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam (2019, available here) by Hidayah Amin, which shines a light on a historical heritage site many have come to think of as a tourist attraction.
Another title, The Story of the Little Red House (1921, available here), by Eileen Chang, looks at a historic Singapore family home that is now an apartment complex. It tells the tale of how the house was bought by a Chinese businessman and later became a residence for many Singaporeans.
A third non-fiction book in the shortlist is The History of the City of Singapore (2019, available here) by Xue Ying. It takes readers on a visual journey of Singapore’s cityscape, exploring its past and present with photos, maps and text to reveal how the capital’s landscape has changed over time.
The fiction shortlist includes The Reunions of the Trees by Tan Teck Hock and the evocative, psychologically-tuned story The Other Woman in the Glass Eye by Clara Chow. The latter is the first writer in the program’s history to be shortlisted for three categories and two languages — English fiction, English creative nonfiction and Chinese poetry.
The winners of the Singapore prize were honoured at a ceremony in the heart of Singapore, at a theater in state-owned Media Corp. Presenters at the event embraced sustainability as a theme, with William wearing a 10-year-old dark green suit and Yen clad in a navy blue dress by Alexander McQueen. The bands One Republic and Bastille performed for the occasion, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave a speech on Earthshot, an initiative that amplifies solutions to climate change. The evening also saw the awarding of a number of awards, including the Singaporean Literary Arts Awards. The Singapore Prize is supported by the National Library Board, Nanyang Girls’ High School and Hwa Chong Institute. The shortlisted books will be on display at the National Library Board until May 30. The full list of prize winning authors can be found here.
