Several prizes were awarded to companies and individuals in the field of health, science, arts and business. An Indian maker of solar-powered dryers, a soil carbon marketplace and groups that deter illegal fishing and restore Andean forests were among the winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize. Britain’s Prince William, whose foundation launched the 10-year award program in 2020, said that all 15 finalists “proved that hope does remain” as the devastating impacts of climate change continue to be felt worldwide.
A team of researchers from Singapore’s National University of Singapore (NUS) have won a $250,000 grant to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can detect harmful memes in the social media. This system could help reduce the spread of misinformation and encourage safer online interactions in multilingual cities such as Singapore, the team said.
The NUS Singapore History Prize, created in 2014 to promote engagement with the nation’s past, was awarded to archaeologist John Miksic for his book Singapore And The Silk Road Of The Sea, 1300-1800. He said he wrote the book to tell some of the 1,000 volunteers who helped him in excavations of the Fort Canning and Old Parliament House sites the importance of their efforts.
NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani, who mooted the prize in a Straits Times column, called for the creation of the prize to celebrate SG50 and make the nuances of Singapore’s history more accessible to citizens. The prize’s nominating committee, which reviewed 31 books submitted by publishers, comprised academics from the NUS Department of History and the arts community, as well as educators and curators. Its jury, chaired by Mahbubani, will announce the winner of this year’s prize in October.
The inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize 2024 was awarded to microbiologist Prof Gertjan Medema from KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands. Medema’s pioneering work in wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) revolutionised the use of WBE for virus detection, which was particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. He received his prize, an award certificate, a medallion and a cash prize of SGD 300,000 from the prime minister of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
The 2022 edition of the biennial Singapore Literature Prize was awarded to 12 authors in English, Chinese and Malay tonight at a ceremony at the Victoria Theatre. The prize, which has been in its physical format since 2022, also included a consumer-voted “readers’ favorite” category for four authors: Ali bin Salim, Daryl Qilin Yam, Pan Zheng Lei and Rma cureess. More than 4,000 readers voted in this round of the consumer-chosen category, about twice the number who did so in the 2020 contest. You can view the shortlisted authors and works, categorized by language, here.