Singapore Prize, a biennial fiction writer award that recognises writing across four main languages of Singapore, announced its 2022 winners tonight (August 25). Twelve winners received prizes in Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English – selected from 43 entries – at Victoria Theatre by an esteemed jury led by Ian McEwan himself. To celebrate these feats of literary merit presented to Singapore by fiction authors themselves!
She explained that the prize’s goal is to foster innovation and increase scale, as well as foster optimism among youths. This idea came about following two observations; first was climate anxiety among many young people leading them down a path of pessimism, hopelessness and inaction; secondly was there are solutions available for some of the world’s toughest environmental problems out there that should be taken up as solutions by innovators around the globe.
Last year, Prince of Wales initiated an environmental prize that is supported by Temasek Philanthropy Trust, Temasek Holdings Investment Firm and GenZero Decarbonisation Investment Platform as well as Conservation International non-profit organisation. It will support projects designed to protect the environment and five winners will each receive PS1 million as financial assistance for developing their ideas further.
Earthshot Week will feature events leading up to this year’s awards ceremony and serve as an invaluable opportunity for prize winners and finalists alike, providing invaluable feedback that may accelerate solutions and spur tangible actions taken toward fixing our planet.
As well as hosting an awards ceremony, this week will feature workshops and panel discussions led by key experts, as well as local activations programs designed to engage the public; for example a screening of short films featuring women in leadership roles.
Dmytro Udovychenko of Ukraine won the top prize of USD $50,000 by performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto during the final round on Wednesday 14 December, followed by Danish violinist Anna Agafia Egholm in second place and Hong Kong/Chinese violinist Angela Sin Ying Chan from Hong Kong/China coming third place.
“Vania on Lima Street” by Bayu Prihantoro Filemon was awarded with the best Southeast Asian film prize from Filmgarde Cineplexes: SGD5,000 cash plus residency or script mentorship from Filmgarde Cineplexes. Gabriela Serrano and Rein Maychaelson won fellowship prizes – which included residencies or script mentorship for their films “Please Bear With Me” and “The Burning Land,” respectively – while Gladys Ng received special mention for her film: “Every Mall Burns the Same”.