The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is an international science competition for students from schools across the world. The aim is to encourage and support young scientists in their efforts to make our planet a better place by solving global water challenges. The winners of the local competitions will go on to compete in the international finals at GYSS, which takes place during World Water Week in Stockholm. The winning team will receive a prize of USD 5,000 and a prize sculpture.
The Earthshot Prize, a global awards programme launched by Britain’s Prince William, is heading to Asia for the first time this year. The prizes were announced in November to shore up innovative solutions and technologies against the planet’s most urgent environmental perils. Winners included an Indian maker of solar-powered dryers and a platform for soil carbon marketplaces, plus groups working to deter illegal fishing and restore Andean forests. The programme was inspired by President John F Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech of 1962, which challenged Americans to reach the moon by the end of the decade.
Kensington Palace said the 2021 winners ‘have already driven incredible impact to repair our damaged planet, with over 1.5 million people directly benefiting from their solutions’. They include the United for Wildlife coalition, which brings together law enforcement agencies, conservationists and businesses to tackle the multibillion-dollar industry in illegal wildlife products. The organisation has already seized more than US$100 million worth of smuggled goods and saved more than 1.4 billion animals from poachers’ traps.
Other winners included a company developing battery technology to power electric cars and a Russian startup building robots that could search for wounded soldiers on the battlefield. The prize’s organisers hope to bring the award to more countries over the next few years, as well as to create a prize for research into “extremely promising ideas”.
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The SGPA aims to promote the study of Singapore and the region through literature, and encourages scholarship in Singaporean history. The Prize is open to works in English and Chinese (translated or original), or written by a Singaporean resident. There are also two Readers’ Choice prizes – a $3,000 cash prize and a Storytel audiobook gift subscription for the winner of each category.
This year, there were 224 entries, up 30 per cent from last year. Chief judges included Esplanade communications and content head Clarissa Oon for English creative non-fiction, literary luminary KTM Iqbal for Tamil poetry and Dr Sa’eda Buang of the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group for Malay fiction. The prize’s other panelists were historian Khoo Boon Hui for his SG50-centric book Lion City and author and journalist Akshita Nanda for her debut novel Nimita’s Place, which centres around two women who navigate society’s expectations in India and Singapore. They were joined by a panel of judges including NUS Professor John Miksic and academic Lam San Ling, who is an expert on post-colonial theory.