The inaugural prize, created to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday in 2014, spurred interest in the nation’s complexities and nuances. It’s administered by the NUS Department of History and is awarded every three years. The winner takes home $50,000.
The 2021 shortlist includes non-fiction works with a personal slant, including “Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Glam” (2019, available here) by Hidayah Amin, who shines a light on the history of a heritage royal building in the neighborhood many now know only as a tourist attraction. The list also features a novel by Kamaladevi Aravindan, who deftly forgoes the traditional view of history as a record of big movers and shakers.
A sweeping tome on the 1950s, when the future of Singapore seemed to be up for grabs, rounds out the list. In addition, the prize program has expanded its scope to include works that address the broader Asian region, and to expand the types of works that can qualify for nomination. Kishore Mahbubani, a NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow and co-founder of the prize, said in a Straits Times column that it could even expand to works such as fiction, movies and comic books with clear historical themes.
“A famous American social scientist once said that nations are ‘imagined communities’ and that shared imagination, especially through history, is what holds them together,” Mahbubani wrote in a newspaper column. “In this age of declining trust, I believe that it is more than ever important for all of us to have a common narrative that we can share.”
As part of the prize program, the organisers are holding a public voting exercise for a reader’s favorite book from among the six titles in the running. Consumers who vote can do so online or at any Singapore Pools outlet through October 2. The winner of the readers’ choice will receive 1,000 Singapore dollars ($US719) in book vouchers.
This year’s ceremony, held at the Substation Theatre, will feature an appearance by British actor and environmentalist Robert Irwin, the star of a popular television series about conservationists in the Amazon rainforest, who are working to save endangered species from extinction. Irwin will meet Singaporeans to see how they’re using innovative approaches to fight the global trade in illegal wildlife products, which is estimated to be worth $20 billion a year. He will also visit a local school to hear about a partnership between Singapore’s public and private sectors to help students gain the skills to become future leaders in innovation and sustainability. The event will also highlight the importance of the region in tackling climate change, with representatives from government agencies and businesses from across the globe gathered to discuss how they can work together to protect the planet.