Winners of the Earthshot Prize and sgp Prize
A maker of solar-powered dryers, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that work to make electric car batteries cleaner, restore Andean forests and deter illegal fishing have been crowned winners in this year’s Earthshot Prize. Presented by Britain’s Prince William, the prize is a catalytic £1 million initiative that shores up solutions against the planet’s most pressing environmental threats.
The evening also saw a series of firsts as a woman became the first winner in the prize’s 28-year history for English poetry with her arcane and unapologetic debut collection, Gaze Back, which tackled taboo topics from menstruation to sexuality.
Shelly Bryant divides her time between Singapore and Shanghai, where she works as a poet, writer and translator. She has published with Epigram Books and authored translations of Chinese literature for Penguin Books, the National Library Board of Singapore, Giramondo Books and HSRC. She has also edited poetry anthologies for Alban Lake and Celestial Books.
She was also a judge for this year’s sgp prize, along with Esplanade communications and content head Clarissa Oon for English creative non-fiction, Cultural Medallion recipient Sithuraj Ponraj for Tamil poetry and Dr Sa’eda Buang of Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group for Malay fiction.