The Singapore Prize is a national programme that recognises creativity and talent across the nation. It celebrates the spirit of Singapore that inspires compassion, empathy and voluntarism. It also promotes a sense of community, innovation, creativity and artistic endeavour. It is the first and only programme of its kind in Asia.
The program celebrates work written in all four of Singapore’s official languages–Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. It awards content in all categories including poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction. This year, there were 12 winners and four merit winners–more than half the writers winning their first time. Five writers won in two or more categories.
This year’s program added a new category that honours multimedia and artistic historical works. The winner will be determined by a public competition, with nominations open to artists, authors, playwrights, producers and others who produce multimedia and artistic historical works that are delivered in the English language (works translated into the English language are also eligible). The goal is to encourage the broader community to engage with Singapore’s rich history in new ways. The judges will be chaired by veteran diplomat and Distinguished Fellow at the NUS Asia Research Institute Kishore Mahbubani.
The programme also honoured scientific excellence with the President’s Science and Technology Awards. Originally established as the National Science and Technology Awards in 1987, they were elevated to Presidential status in 2009. They are among the highest accolades bestowed on scientists and engineers for their contributions to upholding research excellence in Singapore. The awards are administered by the National Research Foundation, Singapore.
In the arts and multimedia category, Kenfoo won with his self-published comic or graphic novel Cockman (2022), about a chicken from another dimension stranded on Earth in human form. The judges loved his “total lack of seriousness and compromise, and over-the-top audacity and absurdity”.
An Indian 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 finalists awarded the Earthshot Prize. Britain’s Prince William, whose charity launched the 10-year award program in 2020, said the solutions show “hope does remain” as the world faces climate change.
A multimedia piece by The Straits Times about stateless individuals led to a real-life transformation for Mr Ricqo Rafiezuwan, who now has a permanent resident card and a job as an operations executive with a family service centre thanks to the media attention. This was the second year in a row that an ST team won the award for the article. The other was in 2021 for an investigation on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The work prompted an outpouring of support for the stateless community and spurred people to volunteer to help them. The story also inspired a charity, Jalan Journey, that uses virtual experiential learning for at-risk youth. The Straits Times and Jalan Journey won the Editor’s Choice award in the Digital category.