At a star-studded awards ceremony held in Mediacorp Campus in Singapore, the winners of The Earthshot Prize 2023 were announced. The five organisations – Accion Andina, GRST, LUSH, WildAid Marine Program and S4S Technologies – were honoured for their work in the fight for a more sustainable world. The winners were selected by a jury of leading experts from across Asia and the Pacific.
Founded in the wake of former President John F Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech, The Earthshot Prize is an international competition that seeks to find solutions for our biggest environmental challenges by 2030. It was inspired by the idea that tackling big problems can be achieved through innovative thinking, bringing together scientists and engineers from the private sector, academia and government.
The inaugural prize was awarded in 2018 to Professor John Miksic for his book Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800. The book synthesises 25 years of archaeological research to reconstruct the 14th-century port of Singapore. Prof Miksic told Publishing Perspectives that he felt that Ms Hidayah’s book had an unfair advantage over his because she grew up in the area that the book covers – Gedung Kuning, Kampong Glam – and that she spent two to three years interviewing residents of the area about its history.
This year’s shortlist of 49 books includes a wide range of genres, from poetry to children’s fiction and nonfiction. Several authors are competing in multiple categories, including Clara Chow, who is up for the English fiction and English creative nonfiction awards. She is the first writer in the prize’s history to make the cut for all three categories and both languages.
Ms Chow is also in the running for the literary award, and has made the shortlist in the Chinese poetry and English literature categories as well. Other notable names in the shortlist include the directors of this year’s Singapore Writers Festival, Yeow Kai Chai and Pooja Nansi.
The shortlist was chosen from 192 submissions, down 32 from last year’s total. Organizers say the decrease reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on submissions.
Prince William arrived in Singapore to attend the event and meet the finalists, and was joined by celebrities such as Bastille, OneRepublic and Cate Blanchett. During his visit, the royal also attended a United for Wildlife summit featuring representatives from law enforcement agencies and conservation groups working to tackle illegal trade in wildlife products, estimated to be worth $20 billion annually. He will also try his hand at dragon boating, a popular sport in the city. He will also meet Singaporeans to see how they are working to solve global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The awards will be broadcast on BBC One and streaming online worldwide. It will be the first time that the awards have been filmed outside of London and Boston. The ceremony was hosted by Emmy award winning actress Hannah Waddingham and actor Sterling K Brown.