The Singapore prize was launched in 2014 to support the national SG50 programme. It is awarded to an outstanding publication that has made a significant impact on our understanding of Singapore’s history. This year, it features non-fiction and fiction that forgo the view of history as a record of big movers and shakers. Its shortlist includes a historical tome and novels that explore what events meant to average people.
The winner of the Singapore prize will receive S$50,000, an engraved medallion and a 12-month Storytel audiobook gift subscription. The winning book will also be featured in a special exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore from June to October 2022.
A Nominating Committee, which reviewed the twenty-six books submitted by publishers, shortlisted six titles for consideration. Its members include Associate Professor Joey Long, Head of the NUS Department of History; Foo Hai Fellow in Buddhist Studies Dr Seng Yu Jin of the National Gallery Singapore; Senior Curator Dr Jack Meng-Tat Chia of the National Museum of Singapore; playwright Ms Jean Tay; and educator Ms Angeline Yeo.
Each of the shortlisted authors will be honoured at an awards ceremony to be held in April 2020, which will be broadcast live on the BBC World Service. The winner of the NUS Singapore History Prize will be announced at the ceremony.
The NUS Singapore History Prize is the biggest book award for a work published in Singapore, with a cash prize of $50,000. It was created in 2014 to mark the launch of Singapore’s SG50 celebrations, and is awarded triennially by NUS. The prize was established by former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, who chairs the jury panel that selects the winners.
In a speech at the awards ceremony, he said that Singapore’s greatest challenge today is not economic but the task of building a nation through a strong sense of shared history. He urged Singaporeans to read more to gain a better understanding of the past, and congratulated this year’s prize winners.
The book that won the NUS Singapore History Prize is Khir Johari’s richly illustrated and comprehensive The Food of the Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago. The volume, which took 14 years to complete, is a feast for the eyes and the tongue. It was published by Marshall Cavendish in 2021.
In the English literary category, the judges were impressed by Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo’s collection of short stories Ponti, which explores women’s relationships with their families. They described her writing as “skilful and assured, comedic at times, and profoundly moving”. In the poetry category, Si Min Xia’s Gaze Back was judged to be a clarion call for gender and linguistic reclamation, and searing in its sassy confidence. The judges praised it for its soaring energy and universal appeal.