The stories of average Singaporeans take centre stage on this year’s shortlist for the National University of Singapore (NUS) History Prize. From historical tome Seven Hundred Years: A History Of Singapore (2019, available here) to novel and non-fiction with a personal slant, this year’s shortlist for the $50,000 prize forgoes the traditional view of history as a record of big movers and shakers.
The NUS History Prize was created in 2014 to cast a wider net and include works from authors of any nationality. The prize is open to non-fiction and fiction, published between Jun. 1, 2021 and May 31, 2024, and must have a clear historical theme.
During his trip to Singapore, the heir to the British throne visited Changi Airport and sat in an indoor garden next to the 40-meter high Rain Vortex. He also inspected an exhibition of the country’s military history at the National Museum of Singapore and saw The Istana palace, one of the city’s oldest heritage sites.
In his speech at the NUS History Prize launch on Friday, Distinguished Professor Kishore Mahbubani of the NUS Asia Research Institute cited American social scientist Benedict Anderson’s notion that nations are ‘imagined communities’, and that a shared imagination, particularly in the past, is a critical glue holding societies together. The historian added that the NUS Prize is a chance for Singaporeans to learn more about their history, and that he hopes future generations will use it as a springboard to build a better tomorrow.
A total of six books have made the shortlist this year, including NUS Professor Kwa Chong Guan’s seven-volume Seven Hundred Years: A History Of Singapore, and Sembawang by Kamaladevi Aravindan, which details life in an estate of the same name across five decades. The list also includes Jeremy Tiang’s Home Is Where We Are (2020, available here), a memoir of an extended family living through leftist political movements and detention camps in the 1950s. The other non-fiction book is Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam (2019, available here) by Hidayah Amin, whose work shines light on a part of Singapore many now only know as a tourist attraction.
The winner of this year’s NUS History Prize will be announced in October, and the shortlisted books will be publicly announced and featured on the program website. The winner will receive a cash award of $50,000 Singapore dollars. A portion of the prize money will be given to the winning author for promotion and distribution purposes. In addition, the winner will have a special presentation at the NUS History Lecture Series and be profiled in local and international media. The Prize is administered by the NUS Department of History. A full set of rules and regulations is available here. Team Singapore medallists who win a major Games event will also be given MAP awards, with the amount of the award depending on the Games and the type of medal won. The MAP awards are a joint initiative of the NUS Department of History and the Tote Board.