A Singaporean man stumbled upon an unexpected win on a bus ride last month. Having alighted from bus service 925, he noticed there were several 4D lottery tickets on the seat in front of him. After checking, he found one ticket had won the first prize amount of S$10,000. Fortunately, the ticket was still valid, so he decided to hand it in to police.
The winner of the 2024 NUS Singapore History Prize has received international recognition as a book that extends our nation’s heritage far beyond the familiar narrative of Sir Stamford Raffles and his legacy. “Making History Matter” by Professor John Miksic of the NUS Department of History is a work that has reached “a new level of excellence.” It is a comprehensive, accessible, and authoritative text, while remaining a compelling read.
Despite its heft, the book is also a “delicious read” and “the kind of work that could easily be a coffee-table book,” according to a jury panel statement. The NUS Singapore History Prize has been given since 1969. It is one of the most prestigious Singapore awards in history and has become a benchmark for scholarly research on Singapore’s history.
In a night of firsts, the Singapore Literature Prize crowned its first female winner for English poetry and gave out its first double wins in both Chinese and English fiction. Marylyn Tan, 27, was declared winner of the prize’s English category for her debut collection Gaze Back. The arcane and unapologetic collection tackles taboo topics from menstruation to sexuality. Its title is taken from French feminist theorist Helene Cixous’ essay The Laugh of the Medusa, which refers to the Greek mythological Gorgon whose glance turns people to stone.
Prince William and other celebrity attendees walked the “green carpet” at the glitzy ceremony held in state-owned Media Corp Theatre. Actors Sterling K Brown and Hannah Waddingham hosted the show, while bands One Republic and Bastille performed. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was the first person outside of Asia to receive the honour, took the stage at the end of the night to help present the award.
The NUS Singapore History Prize is awarded every three years to a book that makes an outstanding contribution to the study of Singapore’s past. Awarded by the NUS Faculty of Arts, it is the most prestigious book award in the country. The winner is chosen by a jury consisting of Prof Mahbubani, the prize’s inaugural winner; Prof John Miksic of the NUS Department for History; Dr Lam San Ling, an historian and museum curator; and Prof Peter A Coclanis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Aside from the main prize, the NUS Singapore History Prize has three other categories: best creative non-fiction; best English translation; and the new Best English Debut. In the latter, artist Shubigi Rao was honoured for Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory of the Banished Books, which marks the third instalment of her decade-long project on banned literature.