The Singapore Prize, introduced by NUS Asia Research Institute Distinguished Fellow Kishore Mahbubani in 2023, is a literary award that honours published works of Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil fiction, non-fiction or poetry in each language – with winners potentially receiving top awards of up to $10,000 and other lesser prizes in each category.

Shortlisted books for this award range from historical works that challenge traditional notions of history as chronicle, to novels that explore it through personal experience without perpetuating notions that national histories represent common heritages.

Six books are nominated for this award: Sembawang by Kamaladevi Pillai chronicles life at one estate over several decades; Timothy P. Barnard’s Imperial Creatures explores human-animal relations in colonial Singapore; and Khoo Kay Peng’s memoir Home Is Where We Are is among them. The winner will be revealed in October.

On the cinema side, the HOFS Award 2023 presented two winners for both film and photography categories in each of these disciplines: Singapore visual arts centre Objectifs was recognized for its contributions to Southeast Asian film while Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-Sheng and Yang Kuei-mei received Screen Icon honors respectively. Furthermore, special recognition was extended to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi after recently being granted freedom after 14-year travel ban and his movie was awarded Cinema Honorary status by the festival.

At an awards ceremony today, Singapore Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen presented two individuals and four teams with the Defence Technology Prize (DTP), which honors their contributions that help keep Singapore Armed Forces on top. This prize acknowledges those whose work helps the Singapore Armed Forces stay at the cutting-edge of defence capabilities.

One recipient, Harrison Ng, is in the early stages of starting his Social Enterprise Jalan Journey which offers virtual experiential learning for youths. Si Min, on the other hand, works as a therapist at SMU Koufu and runs a pay-it-forward project in her estate to enhance residents’ wellbeing.

Muhammad Dinie from I.T.E College Central came in second for this year’s Harvard Prize Book award with his project to show appreciation to Town Council cleaners during the Covid-19 pandemic in his Ang Mo Kio estate, giving them food packages as tokens of his appreciation. Furthermore, this year’s Prize Book was launched jointly with UNESCO Singapore National Commission for Educating Children with Disabilities; inspiring pre-tertiary students to dream bigger while connecting them with Harvard community in Singapore.