Singapore Literature Prize stands out in a competitive landscape of book and publishing awards as it involves literature written in each of Singapore’s four official languages: Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. With this year’s addition of a new category and doubled prize pool of $2.3 million, jurors at this biennial competition were able to reduce 71 entries into an eventual shortlist that includes works written in English language works, Malay language works, Mandarin Chinese works and Tamil works.

Five writers — including two who were nominated for the first time — earned multiple shortlist mentions, with Myle Yan Tay’s Catskull (2023) being recognized and Suchen Christine Lim being awarded her award-winning Dearest Intimate (2022). Poet Edwin Thumboo earned three shortlist spots across both languages (English poetry and Chinese). No other winner of this contest had done this!

Judges also applauded 91-year-old National University of Singapore professor Peter Ellinger’s Memoirs (2023). This nonfiction book won this year’s NUS History Prize administered by its Department of History – awarded each year to nonfiction works that make significant contributions towards understanding Singapore history.

Prof Kishore Mahbubani, chairman of the NUS History Prize jury panel, recounted its creation after penning an opinion piece urging Singaporean philanthropists to support a history book prize. To his delight, this received widespread support, prompting its creation as the NUS History Prize.

This year’s prize is especially noteworthy in that it marks the first time an English-language book has won the NUS History Prize. Professor Miksic’s comprehensive account of Singaporean history provides the reader with all they need to understand its development.

Mahbubani expressed hope of expanding the types of work eligible to submit for his prize in future. “We may expand it to fiction, movies or comics,” he suggested, noting how these media may provide more compelling historical tales than others do.

Mahbubani hopes that eventually raising the NUS Prize monetary reward to S$2.3 million will provide more generous prizes, noting that discussions with various donors are underway regarding its expansion phase. Discussions will center around increasing the size and frequency of premium prizes being presented to winners. Furthermore, people will have more ways of winning through additional live draws at the end of every drawing in which those with all six winning numbers correct may receive extra prize money as bonus prizes. Past winners of the prize have received over S$1.4 million in cash and other prizes – more than double what would have been won from playing Sports Toto or Singapore Sweep which both offer higher prize pools but require more complex gameplay strategies.