Despite the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore’s prestigious literary awards went ahead as planned on Saturday. This year’s shortlist featured a record number of writers — notably Clara Chow, who became the first writer in the award’s 30 years to make it onto the list in multiple categories and languages, including Chinese poetry and English creative nonfiction. She will receive a top prize of 3,000 Singapore dollars (US$2,160) and a commissioned trophy, as well as the award certificate, a gold medallion, and a cash prize.

The award ceremony, which took place at the state-owned MediaCorp theater in downtown Singapore, was a glamorous affair, with actors Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K. Brown and pop bands One Republic and Bastille providing entertainment. Prince William, who acted as master of ceremonies, wore an old dark green suit by Alexander McQueen and other presenters walked a “green carpet.” Actresses Yen and Mbatha were dressed in eco-friendly gowns from the label McCartney. The event celebrated the winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize, a PS1 million award for environmental innovators.

This year, NUS Press had six works in the running for the prize, which was launched in 2014 as part of a series of programs commemorating Singapore’s SG50 celebrations. Administered by NUS’s Department of History, the prize is meant to spur interest in the country’s history and culture among non-academic readers.

A jury of four, led by chairman of NUS’ East Asian Institute Wang Gungwu, selected Vincent Tong’s biography of Sam Hua, Singapore’s most dangerous gangster, for the top prize. The book is also a finalist for the British Society for the History of Science’s Hughes Prize. NUS East Asian Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani, who mooted the prize, lauded the prize for choosing a work that is rooted in historical research.

“The prize recognizes that nations are imagined communities, and a shared imagination is the glue that holds societies together,” he said in a statement. “This prize affirms the importance of preserving and disseminating knowledge about our common past.”

NUS Press will publish this year’s winning works in English, Mandarin, and Tamil. A full list of the winners can be found on the prize program’s website. NUS Press also announced this year’s winners of the Singapore History Prize, a separate competition that drew 43 submissions. This is the inaugural edition of a prize aimed at spurring interest in Singapore’s history and making it more accessible to a wider audience. More on that can be read here. For more publishing and awards news from Asia, keep an eye on the Singapore page on Publishing Perspectives. To see more articles on Asian publishers and the book business, click here. This is the 131st article we have published since our launch on January 3. To subscribe to our weekly newsletter, click here. Featured image via Wikipedia.