Prince William of Britain created the award to help environmental solutions expand. Five winners will each be receiving PS1 million ($1.67 million), to support projects that combat climate change and protect the planet.
Han Fook Kwang of Straits Times served as editor-at-large and headed a panel of eight judges that consisted of philanthropists, academicians, social entrepreneurs, and policymakers to select Team Empowered Families Initiative as winner for its community-driven initiative that invests in low-income families’ hopes and plans to improve their lives through targeted developmental workshops for children as well as mentorship for adults through targeted social media campaign.
This year, the Singapore Literature Prize has presented 12 awardees across its various categories – one winner for each official language – Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. Winners were honored at an awards ceremony last night held at which Edwin Tong served as guest of honour.
Not content with just awarding top prizes, an additional Readers’ Favourite category was held, where readers voted for their favourite books. As part of consumer voting, Ali bin Salim, Daryl Qilin Yam, Pan Zheng Lei (Pan Cheng Lui) and Rama Suresh each won $1,000 cash prizes from this round of voting.
The President*s Design Award, an annual prize that recognizes designers whose transformative designs have made a profound effect on society and global landscape, awarded Henning Larsen and BIG as its winners in 2023. Both firms were recognized for their innovative, human-centric designs as well as deep understanding of Asian cultures that led them to create the Singapore Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.
This year marks the inaugural competition to recognize projects that are both environmentally sustainable and meet users’ needs. Shortlisted projects include an intelligent water recycling system capable of sorting waste streams for recycling; and a solar-powered bus stop offering commuters charging stations while they wait.
Archaeologist Ian Fung (71), known for disproveing the popular notion that Singapore history began with Sir Stamford Raffles landing, won the inaugural Singapore History Prize with his book Singapore And The Silk Road Of The Sea 1300-1800. On Thursday (Jan 11), at a special awards ceremony held in the National Museum of Singapore, a joint initiative by National University of Singapore and Asia Research Institute was unveiled: their award will be bestowed annually, with nominations due by June 2024. Authors or co-authors who have made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of Singaporean history through writing or co-writing a book-length publication must apply, with either time period/theme coverage in Singaporean history as the focus or featuring significant aspects as part of an overarching narrative involving history as the topic. It’s open both locally and overseas authors. A panel of judges will select their winner in 2024.