Prince of Wales turned heads when he arrived in an SUV powered by recycled biodiesel at an Earthshot Prize awards ceremony hosted in Singapore. At this year’s show, which marked its third edition, finalists for Earthshot Prize include organizations and companies working on solutions to some of today’s most pressing environmental problems – from making electric car batteries greener to increasing crop yields with solar power. It marked its inaugural performance in Asia; notable guests at this ceremony included actress Cate Blanchett, actors Donnie Yen and Lana Condor as well as Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin who all joined in celebrating these winners and celebrating tomorrow’s King to honor them in honoring this award ceremony!
At this event, five winners were named, including Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies and Boomitra. Each will receive a grant of S$200,000 (US$165,000), along with access to mentors and investors that will help accelerate their impact.
Prince of Wales stated during his address at the awards that the 2023 winners showed there is still hope, even as climate change and environmental degradation affect more people than ever before globally. He called for increased action from companies and governments alike in order to mitigate such risks, encouraging setting of targets and investing in new technologies as necessary.
On Sunday, Prince Harry arrived in Singapore for a weeklong visit that will start with awards ceremonies and end with bowling championships. While in Singapore he will tour its natural beauty, meet Singaporeans and attend United for Wildlife Summit (which brings together law enforcement agencies, conservation groups and corporations working against illegal wildlife trade estimated at $20 billion per year) along with joining locals at dragon boat races and trying his hand at bowling – two activities popular throughout this city-state.
Organisers of the Singapore Literature Prize have explained its small submission number this year is due to the COVID-19 pandemic; nonetheless, this year’s shortlist features 49 titles with Mok Zining’s first shortlisted poetry book being shortlisted and Daryl Lim Wei Jie debuting Malay fiction for the first time as Daryl Lim Wei Jie also makes their Malay fiction debut and nonagenarian Wang Gungwu as well as Tamil writer Rma Cueess being two of oldest shortlisted creative nonfiction authors for English creative nonfiction categories respectively.
This prize was established in 2014 through an endowed gift from a donor and administered by NUS Department of History to encourage research on Singapore history across many genres and formats. Previous winners include professor John Miksic’s book which draws upon 25 years of archaeological research to reconstruct Singapore as it existed during 14th century, and Hidayah Amin’s Leluhur: A History of Kampong Glam which recounts one of Singapore’s most intriguing neighborhoods. The prize jury, chaired by NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani, included novelist Meira Chand; economist Lam San Ling; historian Peter Coclanis and archaeologist Hidayah Amin. They met for an award ceremony held at Media Corp theater.