A maker of solar-powered dryers, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that work to make electric car batteries cleaner, restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing were among the winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize at a glitzy ceremony hosted by actors Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K. Brown. The awards ceremony, which was held in Singapore’s state-owned Media Corp theater, also featured performances by the bands One Republic and Bastille and US singer Bebe Rexha. Several celebrity attendees, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was on the Earthshot board of trustees, wore outfits that were either made from recycled materials or made from sustainable fabrics, such as British actor Will William’s 10-year-old dark green suit by Alexander McQueen.
The winner of the 2024 biennial Singapore Literature Prize will be announced on August 25 in a ceremony at the Victoria Theatre, with awards presented in each of Singapore’s four languages – Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English. The program also includes a readers’ choice category, which this year saw nearly 4,000 people vote for their favorite works, more than double the number from 2020. The four winning books in this round of consumer voting – Ali bin Salim’s The Landing of the White Tiger, Daryl Qilin Yam’s The Last Days of Chairman Lee and Pan Zheng Lei’s rma cureess – each receive $1,000 Singapore dollars (US$735), while the other shortlisted works get book-purchase vouchers worth 1,000 Singapore dollars.
The prize was established to commemorate Christopher Bathurst KC, Viscount Bledisloe (1934-2009), a member of the commercial Bar in London who developed a substantial practice in Southeast Asia, including Singapore. He was also a prominent cross-bench member of the House of Lords.
Until this year, the top cash award was only SG$1 million ($745,300) for a gold medal. That changed when swimmer Joseph Schooling won a gold in the men’s 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics. He received a bonus of SG$1.3 million.
The NUS Singapore History Prize, founded in 2014 and part of the SG50 celebrations of the country’s independence, aims to promote engagement with Singapore history broadly understood to include pre-1819 histories as well as works that seek to understand Singapore’s place in the world. The prize is awarded annually and is judged by a distinguished jury panel chaired by Mahbubani, consisting of Professor John Miksic from NUS Department of Southeast Asian Studies; Emeritus Professor Tan Tai Yong, NUS University; and economist Dr Lam San Ling. The judges are expected to select and announce a winner towards the end of October.