NUS History has announced six compelling works that have been shortlisted for the 2024 NUS Singapore History Prize – the first-ever prize devoted entirely to Singaporean history.

Among the many important works submitted that offer fresh understandings of Singaporean history, the following books were chosen by a five-member Nominating Committee, as best meeting the qualities that the Prize strives to encourage:

The Shortlist:

• Wesley Leon Aroozoo, The Punkhawala and the Prostitute (Singapore: Epigram Books, 2021).
• Timothy P. Barnard, ed., Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City (Singapore: NUS Press, 2024).
• Kevin Blackburn, The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory (Singapore: NUS Press, 2022).
• Khir Johari, The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2021).
• Loh Kah Seng, Alex Tan Tiong Hee, Koh Keng We, Tan Teng Phee, and Juria Toramae, Theatres of Memory: Industrial Heritage of 20th Century Singapore (Singapore: Pagesetters Services, 2021).
• Lynn Wong Yuqing & Lee Kok Leong, Reviving Qixi: Singapore’s Forgotten Seven Sisters Festival (Singapore: Renforest Publishing, 2022).

Please refer to the Annex for brief synopses of the six shortlisted books.

Mooted by Mr Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the NUS Asia Research Institute, and administered by the NUS Department of History, the NUS Singapore History Prize aims to stimulate an engagement with Singapore’s history broadly understood (this may include pre-1819 history) and works dealing with Singapore’s place in the world. Another purpose is to make the complexities and nuances of Singapore’s history more accessible to non-academic audiences and to cast a wide net for consideration of works that deal with Singaporean history. At the same time, the Prize hopes to generate a greater understanding among Singaporean citizens of their own unique history.

The Prize is an open global competition. Created in 2014 in support of the national SG50 programme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s independence, the NUS Singapore History Prize is awarded to an outstanding publication that has made a lasting impact on our understanding of the history of Singapore.

The 2024 Prize was open to works in English (written or translated) published between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2024. Non-fiction and fiction works were eligible for the Prize. Other creative works that have clear historical themes could also be submitted. Book-length works that were either authored or co-authored, and addressed any time period, theme, or field of Singaporean history, or include a substantial aspect of Singaporean history as part of a wider story were eligible.

The Prize is awarded every three years, and the author of the winning publication will receive a cash award of S$50,000. The inaugural Prize was awarded in 2018 to Professor John Miksic, whose work Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800 provides detailed archaeological evidence that Singapore’s story began more than 700 years ago. In 2021, the Prize was awarded to Hidayah Amin for her book Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam which presents the history of Kampong Gelam in the context of changes to Singapore’s economic, political, and social history over the last 200 years.

A distinguished Jury Panel chaired by Mr Mahbubani and consisting of Emeritus Professor John Miksic of the NUS Department of Southeast Asian Studies; Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of the Singapore University of Social Sciences; Professor Peter A. Coclanis, Director, Global Research Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and economist Dr Lam San Ling will select and announce a winner towards the end of October 2024.

On behalf of the jury, Mr Mahbubani thanked the members of the Nominating Committee for reviewing the twenty-six books that publishers submitted and nominating the six for the Prize. Members of the Nominating Committee are drawn from academia, the civil service and the arts. The Committee is chaired by Associate Professor Joey Long, Head of the NUS Department of History, and comprises Foo Hai Fellow in Buddhist Studies and Associate Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia of the NUS Department of History; Senior Curator Dr Seng Yu Jin of the National Gallery Singapore; playwright Ms Jean Tay; and educator Dr Angeline Yeo.

Mr Mahbubani said, “In 2025, Singapore will turn 60. By any global standard, Singapore has enjoyed exceptional peace and prosperity. Hence, there is growing global interest in this exceptional story of Singapore. Many want to know the deeper historical roots of this remarkable Singapore story. The Singapore History Prize clearly serves both domestic and global interests by encouraging greater research into Singapore’s history. The twenty-six works submitted for the 2024 round indicate that the History Prize is achieving its objective. The Nominating Committee has done an excellent job of shortlisting six works. Singaporeans can begin enjoying the fruits of the Singapore History Prize by reading and studying the six shortlisted works.

For more information about the NUS Singapore History Prize, please visit: https://fass.nus.edu.sg/hist/nus-singapore-history-prize/.

This story first appeared in NUSNews on 5 August 2024.