The 2024 Singapore Prize jury will be chaired by former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, who also set up the prize with an anonymous donor in 2014. At a media conference, he said that the biggest challenge now facing Singapore is not economic, but building a strong sense of national identity based on a deep understanding of the country’s history.
The judging of the prize will be done by a five-member panel that includes Mahbubani, Prof John Miksic, the chairman of the NUS Singapore History Prize; and Tan Tai Yong, President of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The winner of the prize will receive a cash award of S$50,000 and be presented with a certificate at a ceremony at NUS on May 31. Two special commendations, with no cash prizes, will also be awarded. The first will go to the book The Food of the Singapore Malays, which took 14 years to publish and weighs 3.2kg. The second will be a book by Lynn Wong and Lee Kok Leong, titled Theatres of Memory: Industrial Heritage of 20th Century Singapore.
NUS also announced this week that Candine apples, which are sold by French cooperative Blue Whale in Singapore and Malaysia, have won the Voted Product of the Year Singapore-Malaysia award. The award is based on consumer feedback gathered by research agency Treetz. Blue Whale, which is a member of the IFFCO-TOKIO Group, was also voted the best brand for its apple juices in China this year.
On the same day, a star-studded event at Mediacorp Campus in Singapore saw the unveiling of The Earthshot Prize 2023 winners and finalists. At the launch, Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra were recognised for their innovative and impactful environmental solutions.
Earthshot Week, which begins today (6 November), will be a week-long celebration of innovation and impact. It will bring together global leaders, businesses and investors with TEP finalists and winners to accelerate their solutions and bring about tangible action to repair our planet.
At the same event, pre-tertiary students were recognised for their outstanding care for others in their community. One such student, Muhammad Dinie from ITE College Central, shared how he helped lead an appreciation project during the Covid-19 pandemic for Town Council cleaners in Ang Mo Kio. The team gave them packed meals, groceries, and thank-you cards. A video about the project was aired at the awards ceremony. The other winning projects were a social media campaign by a student from Yishun Senior Secondary to encourage fellow students to recycle, and an initiative by a group of students from CHIJ St Theresa’s to create a book of letters for cancer patients. The videos and the books will be donated to a charity for the underprivileged. The ceremony for the awards was live-streamed on organisers Singapore Book Council’s Facebook and YouTube pages. The full list of award winners can be found here.