Singapore Prize for Secondary School Students
The SGP Prize is a biennial award in the form of cash grants given by The Sovereign Art Foundation to secondary-school students from Bahrain, Chester, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Malta, London, Monaco, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and the Isle of Man who have produced high-quality art work. The prize provides an opportunity for the winners to recognise their talent and showcase it, while also allowing them to take advantage of professional advice on how to develop their work.
The winning works are displayed at The Sovereign Art Gallery in the centre of the city for two months before being awarded to the winners. Students from the participating schools can visit the gallery to view the exhibition and vote for their favourites. In the past, the SGP Prize has attracted a range of talented and diverse artists such as illustrators, painters, digital designers and photographers.
In 2024, the SGP Prize was awarded to a collection of short stories by Nanyang Technological University lecturer Prasanthi Ram, published in late 2023 as Nine Yard Sarees. The short story cycle examines the inter-generational impact of women on each other, combining “a skilful, assured, comedic at times, and profoundly moving” style of writing, the judging panel said.
It has become a tradition for the prize to be presented at a glitzy ceremony attended by celebrities, with this year’s ceremony held at the Victoria Theatre. Britain’s Prince William, who launched the prize in 2020 with a donation from his foundation, spoke at the event. He wore an old green suit from Alexander McQueen, and other presenters such as actresses Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K Brown wore eco-friendly gowns made from recycled plastic bottles.
The SGP Prize aims to stimulate engagement with Singapore’s history and make the nuances of history more accessible, an NUS press release said. The first prize was given in 2018 to archaeologist John Miksic for his book Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800, which offers detailed archaeological evidence that the country’s origins are older than thought. This year, the panel of judges received 26 submissions, their quality leading them to issue, for the first time, special commendations without attendant cash awards. These were Reviving Qixi: Singapore’s Forgotten Festival by Lynn Wong and Lee Kok Leong, and Theatres of Memory: Industrial Heritage Of 20th Century Singapore by Loh Kah Seng, Alex Tan, Koh Keng We, and Juria Toramae. The winners will be announced in Oct. 2021. NUS’ Department of History administers the prize. It was founded in 2014 to mark the SG50 milestone. This year, it has been expanded to include works from the other three languages spoken in Singapore: Chinese, Malay and Tamil. The prize is open to both non-fiction and fiction works, and covers any time period, theme or field of Singaporean history or incorporates a substantial aspect of the country’s history in their narrative. The full list can be seen here.