The Singapore Prize, the country’s top literary award for fiction, has reopened for submissions, adding a new translation category to its mix. The 2024 contest will be open to English-language fiction originally written in any of the country’s four other official languages. Last year, comic artist Sonny Liew’s Charlie Chan Hock Chye won the prize for his debut in English with The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chue.
Organizers expect the number of entries to be significantly higher this year, which would make it the biggest competition in the prize’s three-decade history. The competition has attracted writers from across the world, including established names like renowned Chinese novelist Liu Xiaobo and Nobel laureate Tan Tze-ming. It has also introduced a Readers’ Favorite exercise where the public votes online for their favorite shortlisted book in each of its categories, and wins book vouchers in the process.
In addition to the main awards, which range from a US$3,000 cash prize to an engraved trophy, the competition has also launched a film category for short works. Winners in that section will be rewarded with a prize of $2,500 each, with a special jury mention and audience choice award also to be announced.
Britain’s Prince William headed to Singapore on Tuesday for the third annual Earthshot Prize ceremony, where he praised winners who were “heralding a wave of innovation in the fight against climate change.” Held at Mediacorp Campus in downtown Singapore, the awards ceremony featured stars such as Cate Blanchett and Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham. They and celebrities including Lana Condor, Donnie Yen, Robert Irwin, and Nomzano Mbatha heralded winners in the categories of nature protection, clean air, ocean revival, waste elimination, and climate change.
The Earthshot Prize, founded in 2020 by Britain’s Prince William, awarded prizes to entrepreneurs who were developing innovative projects to combat climate change. The awards were presented in partnership with Temasek Trust, which has now become the prize’s founding partner to broaden its impact in Asia. During his week-long visit, the Prince will meet with local entrepreneurs to learn more about how their innovations are reshaping communities and nations in Southeast Asia.
He will also take part in the United for Wildlife global summit to hear from representatives of law enforcement agencies and companies that are working together to combat the illegal trade in wildlife products, which is estimated to be worth around US$20 billion per year.
The summit will be hosted at the National Museum of Singapore and will include panel discussions with leaders from the business, government, and conservation communities. It will also feature an immersive exhibition highlighting the threats faced by wildlife, and highlights how businesses can help. The summit will be the first of its kind to feature a full-scale replica of the endangered Asian rhinoceros, which will be unveiled at the end of the event. The exhibit will allow visitors to experience the challenges and hardships of protecting the rhinos. It will be free for all to attend and will be available from March through May next year.