The Singapore Prize 2023
The Singapore Prize 2023 was announced on 30 September at the Ritz Carlton Millenia, where winners from various niche sectors were honoured for raising the bar globally. This included business leaders from the food, tourism, technology, beauty, and wellness industries. They were also congratulated for their contributions to Singapore’s economic competitiveness on the world stage.
The competition was launched at the time when COVID-19 had just struck, children were out of school across SE Asia, and the prize seemed like a clear call to action for EdTech to deliver a solution that best suited this context. From the outset, the challenge was designed with a wide funnel to allow for diversity of ideas and to complement the prize with a multi-dimensional Support Program – a combination of data, networks and capacity building – so as to enable finalists to move from ideation to execution and impact in their own way.
The prize, which comes with a cash award of S$50,000, will be awarded to an outstanding publication that makes a lasting impact on our understanding of Singapore history. Submissions can focus on any time period, theme or field of Singapore history, and may be written or translated. It is open to book-length publications published between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2024.
A judging panel will select the winner from the shortlisted entries, and the result will be announced at a ceremony in 2024. The prize has been endorsed by the Singapore government and is supported by Temasek Foundation.
In the past, the prize has attracted global recognition for Singapore’s science and technology sector. It is one of the highest honours bestowed by the Singapore government on individuals for their contribution to research excellence in science and technology.
Among the notable recipients include Professor Tan Cheng Lock, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2000 for his discoveries in signal transduction pathways. It was the first time that a non-American won this prize, and marked a significant milestone for Singapore as a nation of diverse communities.
Singaporean kiteboarder Max Maeder could be the second Singaporean to win an Olympic gold, if he wins at the Rio Games. He will receive a cash payout of up to $1 million (Singapore dollars) under the Major Games Awards Programme, which provides medalists with substantial financial rewards.
During the Prize ceremony, the President of Singapore congratulated all the winners and encouraged them to continue pushing themselves to new heights in their respective fields. He also called on them to continue contributing to Singapore’s national identity and global standing. He also gave special mention to Nanyang Girls’ High School, Hwa Chong Institute and the SG 50 Celebration Fund for their contributions to the competition. This year, the Prize also honoured several members of the public who had compiled their family genealogies and contributed to the preservation of Singapore’s cultural heritage. One of them, 74-year-old Mr Chui Seng Wah, won a Special Mention for his entry, whose story documented how his father came from rural China with little more than his life savings and built a successful tailoring business in Ang Mo Kio.