The sgp prize honours and celebrates the most innovative, exciting and ground-breaking projects that have the potential to change the world for the better. Applicants are asked to demonstrate leadership, foresight and excellence in solving real-life problems by providing solutions that have a global impact and are grounded in sustainability.
The prize recognises the outstanding achievements of cities and urban communities for displaying exceptional commitment and innovation to achieve liveable, sustainable, vibrant and healthy places for all. It honours the best examples of city-building and urban governance that promote social and economic wellbeing while tackling challenges such as urbanisation, climate change, housing and poverty reduction.
This year’s winner of the SGP will be announced on 27 November. The prize is presented by the British Council and the SGP’s founding partners, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and Centre for Liveable Cities.
A team of scholars will review the submissions and shortlist up to six winning projects from across the region. They will then be interviewed by a jury, which consists of leaders from the field of urbanisation and public policy from the UK, India and China. The jury will then choose one overall winner from the shortlisted projects and announce them on 27 November, at a special event in London.
Professor Miksic’s work, which traces the history of artefacts found in Singapore, won over five other books in the running for the prize, which was launched in 2014 in support of the country’s SG50 programme. Kishore Mahbubani, senior adviser for university and global relations at NUS, said that there were plans to expand the type of works that could qualify for the prize. He cited the movie 12 Years A Slave as an example, saying that sometimes history may be told more effectively through fiction and other mediums.
Other winners included Straits Times journalist Akshita Nanda in the English non-fiction category for her book Nimita’s Place, which tells the story of two women who navigate society’s expectations in India and Singapore. In the English creative non-fiction category, artist Shubigi Rao won for her second book Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography Of The Banished Book, a sequel to her earlier work on book destruction in Singapore.
The SGP was established in 1973 in honour of Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology and SEAP founder, Lauriston Sharp, who believed that understanding the past was crucial to shaping a more enlightened future. Today, it is the largest prize in Southeast Asia. It is awarded annually to graduating doctoral students whose dissertation research and community engagement embody the spirit of the prize’s namesake. It is the only academic prize of its kind in the world that recognises both the importance of historical scholarship and the significance of building a vibrant, connected community. This year, the prize was boosted to S$50,000. It was presented at a special awards ceremony in the presence of the winning authors and representatives from the prize’s sponsors, NUS and the British Council.