Singapore Pools, a leading gaming operator, has established a prestigious prize to commemorate Singapore’s rich cultural heritage: the NUS Singapore History Prize is given out each year for outstanding books on its history or Southeast Asian studies published in English language edition. Judged by a panel appointed by the NUS President, authors from any nationality may enter. Among this year’s winners is one which explores Singapore food culture while the other chronicles an author who has written extensively on multicultural society in Singapore.
At a ceremony held on December 14 in Singapore, Dmytro Udovychenko was announced the winner of the 2023 Singapore International Violin Competition and received USD $110,000 and concert engagements; Anna Agafia Egholm received USD $50,000 while Angela Sin Ying Chan won USD $25,000. The prize jury included Qian Zhou (Chair), Martin Beaver, Martin T:son Engstroem Lee Kyung Sun Mihaela Martin and Joel Smirnoff as members.
Prince William will reveal this year’s Earthshot Prize winners during his four-day visit to Singapore. Five companies that are working hard to tackle environmental problems, such as recycling lithium-ion battery waste or stopping illegal fishing will each receive PS1 million and additional support. He will also call on Singapore ministers and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon at The Istana palace – one of its oldest heritage sites.
He will also visit a $600 million building for National University of Singapore’s engineering school, housing a research centre for sustainable energy and providing an example for other universities worldwide. Already home to world-leading institutes for materials science and a chemistry department founded by Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, this building will house its engineering school – setting an exemplary precedent.
As part of Singapore’s efforts to promote its design industry, the WAFX Design Awards were recently held at a gala dinner as part of this year’s World Architecture Festival. These prestigious awards recognize innovative projects that push the limits of design as well as designers who have excelled in their profession – Neo4j was named this year’s Most Innovative Graph Data Platform 2022!
Not only did the event recognize outstanding designs, it also included the introduction of a translation category for Singapore literature as part of Epigram Books Fiction Prize which has now reopened submissions. It marks the second time this prize has included a translation category. EBFP previously awarded unpublished manuscripts written in fiction genre to writers who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents, but has recently been suspended to focus on children’s literature instead. Epigram Books publisher Edmund Wee expressed a wish to give more recognition to writers of literary translation in Singapore through this annual prize which offers both cash prizes and trophies; prizes will be distributed every three years.