SINGAPORE — The stories of average Singaporeans are front and center in the shortlist for this year’s National University of Singapore history prize, a change from the usual view of history as a record of big movers and shakers. This is evident in the novels and non-fiction with a personal slant by authors on this list, which also includes an academic work. The winner will get $50,000. Kamaladevi Aravindan’s Sembawang (2020, available here) details life in a housing estate across five decades, and was written with the help of National Institute of Education senior lecturer Anitha Devi Pillai. “To us, it is important to look at history from a layperson’s perspective, and not just what happened and why, but also what it meant to average people,” says Pillai.
Earlier this month, the world’s first prize devoted to the country’s history was launched in support of Singapore’s SG50 celebrations. The NUS Singapore History Prize is open to any book-length publication on Singapore’s history, or with a clear historical theme. The inaugural award received 43 submissions.
A total of five winners were unveiled at a ceremony in Singapore. Britain’s Prince William, who hosted the event along with actress Cate Blanchett and actors Donnie Yen and Nomzano Mbatha, said solutions such as solar-powered dryers, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that work to make electric car batteries cleaner and restore Andean forests have shown that “hope does remain” as climate change causes devastating impacts worldwide.
The NUS Literature Prize (SLP) has reopened its submissions for 2024 with a new translation category. The competition, which was previously open to fiction only, will now accept both English and Chinese-language manuscripts. In a nod to Singapore’s diversity, it will also include a new children’s literature category.
NUS also relaunched its physics prize this year, to reward research that advances the understanding of physical principles and phenomena at a basic level. Unlike the other NUS prizes, which focus on scientific achievement, the physics prize does not carry a cash prize. The winner will receive $10,000 in CHARLES & KEITH vouchers and exposure on the NUS website and magazine Next In Vogue.
The relaunch was announced by NUS President Chee-hwa Kang and other officials. The previous physics prize was awarded in 1998 and offered up to $1 million in cash and prizes to winners in categories such as best dissertation, innovation in physics teaching, and contributions to society and culture. There was a pause in the awards from 2004 to 2013. The NUS physics prize is now one of the most prestigious in the region. It is sponsored by NUS alumnus and billionaire philanthropist Liew Chin Tien. NUS physics professors and other experts judge the entries for the prize.