Singapore Prize 2021 Shortlist Announced
INDUSTRY
Branding has become more crucial than ever as businesses look to differentiate themselves in a fast-changing business landscape. And that’s why local companies from a range of sectors were feted for their efforts at the 21st Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA) ceremony last week. In the Promising Brands category, healthcare provider StarMed Specialist Centre took home the top prize. Other winners included construction firm Craftwork and co-living operator Coliwoo.
A new prize for Singapore history has a shortlist of non-fiction books with a personal slant. The NUS Singapore History Prize 2021 aims to challenge the traditional view of history as a record of political events and movements, and includes work such as Jeremy Tiang’s Sembawang (2019, available here) which follows his extended family through the leftist political movements of the 1950s.
The other three books on the shortlist are Seven Hundred Years: A History of Singapore by Kwa Chong Guan, Tan Tai Yong and Peter Borschberg; Kamaladevi Aravindan’s novel Sembawang; and Leluhur: Life in Kampong Gelam by Hidayah Amin. The prestigious $50,000 prize will be awarded at a ceremony in May, and the winner will receive a Presidential Medal in silver, which is minted by the Government of Singapore.
NUS professor Kishore Mahbubani, chairman of this year’s jury, said Prof Miksic’s book made a profound impact on how people understood Singapore history. His work, he added, reinterprets the debate on when and how Singapore became a nation. It also uncovers and interprets historical information such as Chinese trader Wang Dayuan’s mentions of places that scholars later identified as Singapore.
TOTO’s winning entry drew inspiration from a public park by Budi Prajot and Tito Supriatna and a post-earthquake reconstruction project in Indonesia, and was also informed by the game’s history and evolving playbook. It was a “smart, innovative and beautiful” design that is “a testament to our city’s ability to innovate and adapt”, Mr Goh said.
Among the other entries, a stacked apartment building by OMA and Ole Scheeren in China and a public park designed by local architects were among the best projects in the Built Environment category. The finalists for this year’s prize were chosen from a pool of 248 submissions, and will be showcased at the 2023 WAFX international trade fair.
Prince William was given a rock-star welcome when he arrived in Singapore on Tuesday to receive the Earthshot Prize from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He was greeted by crowds at Jewel Changi Airport who cheered, waved Union Jack flags and held photos of the late Princess Diana. The heir to the British throne was in town for the third annual Earthshot Prize, which is part of Prince William’s royal foundation charity, and funds innovative solutions to global environmental challenges. The competition is open to individuals and organisations from around the world. He was there to announce the latest round of funding, which saw five winners receive PS1 million each. He also spoke about how he is “really proud of the way that Singapore is working together to tackle global problems”. He will continue his trip to Malaysia and Thailand before heading back to London.