The prize was first mooted in an opinion column Prof Mahbubani wrote in 2014, asking Singapore philanthropists to donate a cash prize for the best history book written about the country. The idea was to honour what the writer has contributed to the shared imagination of society. “As the famous American social scientist Benedict Anderson has said, nations are imaginaries and a shared imagination holds societies together,” he said then. “An important part of a nation’s shared imagination is its history, especially a national history.”
The award will be presented in October. The winning work must have been published within the previous 30 months and cover at least a period of 200 years of Singapore’s existence. A four-member jury panel, chaired by Prof Mahbubani, will decide the winner. The shortlist will be announced in September. NUS says it expects the prize to be open to writers across all genres, from non-fiction accounts of major events to works of fiction or poetry. It will also include works in multiple languages.
Besides the book prize, the new competition will have a Readers’ Favorite exercise where readers can vote online for their favorite shortlisted title. The public can do this for each of the three English-language shortlisted titles, as well as the Malay-language one. The winner in each of the two categories will be crowned a Singapore Literary Prize winner and receive a prize purse worth 1,000 Singapore dollars (US$720).
NUS is already running a similar book competition, with the shortlisted books to be released in September. This year, it has added a new category for historical fiction, with the hope of attracting more authors to this genre. The contest is supported by the country’s National Heritage Board.
In his speech, the Prince of Wales also praised Singapore for being a hub for innovation in Southeast Asia. He will visit the Istana palace, one of Singapore’s oldest heritage sites, during his four-day trip. The heir to the British throne last visited the city-state with his wife in 2012.
During his stay, the royal will meet locals to hear how they are working to protect and restore the planet. He will also take part in a United for Wildlife summit, which features representatives from law enforcement agencies, private companies and conservation groups. The event will be attended by celebrities including actors Donnie Yen and Lana Condor, as well as Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin. The royal is also expected to try his hand at dragon boating, a popular sport in Singapore and many other parts of the world.