The Singapore prize is a biennial award program that honours authors for their published works in the country’s four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. This year’s competition saw 224 submissions from 43 writers across the country, with 12 top prizes of up to $10,000 each available in the various categories. The prize is supported by the National Book Development Council of Singapore, a statutory body, and was established in 2022 to encourage more writers to pursue excellence.
The winners of the Singapore prize have been crowned at an extravagant ceremony that was held in the Mediacorp Theatre on Tuesday. Britain’s Prince William hosted the event, which gave the five green innovators a chance to share their projects with the audience. He donned a dark green suit and dickie bow, matching the colour of the thick green carpet that the winners walked down.
He also looked quite dapper, as he stood alongside the host Hannah Waddingham, who wore a long black sparkling ball gown and a huge red and green poppy that symbolised remembrance for those who died during the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s Singapore prize has a record amount of money on offer, making it one of the richest book prizes in the world. There is a total of $30,000 up for grabs in the inaugural Dr Alan HJ Chan Spirit of Asia Literary Award, with a grand prize of $30,000 going to the best work of fiction and non-fiction in each category. The other top awards are worth $25,000 each.
The Readers’ Favourite category has four winners, who will receive $1,000 in cash. The voters also stand a chance to win book vouchers worth $50 each. The shortlisted books were Cockman (2022), a self-published comic or graphic novel about a chicken from another dimension that finds itself stranded in human form on Earth; Cocoon (2022), a story of two childhood friends who talk through the night to put to bed dark secrets linked to their family histories; and the satirical play The Mermaids of Chinatown (2202).
A special $20,000 prize is also offered for a work of non-fiction or memoir, with an additional $5,000 up for grabs for the best book cover design. This prize will be judged by the organising committee, which is made up of academics and professionals from the publishing industry. The other awards are: