The Singapore Prize and the World Building of the Year Awards
The Singapore Prize is the largest prize in Asia for individuals, companies and organisations that have made significant contributions to sustainable development. The prize, which was launched in 2022, honours sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region and is named after former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose vision of a greener, cleaner Singapore helped shape a sustainable society. The winner of the prize will receive a cash award of US$100 million and will have their work featured in a global exhibition.
A redevelopment of a housing complex for senior citizens has won the World Building of the Year prize at this year’s World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam. The project, known as Kampung Admiralty, is an integrated hub that includes public spaces, over 100 apartments for seniors and community facilities. It beat out flashier competition, including a stadium for the 2025 World Cup and Qatar’s National Library, to win the top prize.
Professor Rajeev Patke, who has contributed to scholarship on Anglophone literature and culture, was awarded the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize in the English category for his book The Great Divide (2023). It’s an account of how the literary imagination responds to and shapes political events in a time of civil war and dictatorship. Judges described the book as a “monumental undertaking”, adding that it weaves together personal, cultural, social and historical themes with “beautiful coherence”.
This is the first year that the prize has been awarded for a non-fiction work. It was established through a donation by Confucian scholar Alan Chan and was launched on April 18. It is Singapore’s richest literary prize and aims to promote books that champion mindsets that have contributed to the country’s success, including equality, diversity, religious harmony, meritocracy, pragmatism, education and community.
The first prize of the Singapore Water Prize was announced in 2022. It is named after former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yuw and recognises outstanding efforts to address the world’s water challenges. The prize was inaugurated at the UN Environment Assembly in Geneva and has since been awarded to a number of international institutions.
The SCCA Foundation – the not-for-profit arm of the Sports Car Club of America – is raising funds to support everything from the SCCA Archives to Women on Track scholarships and regional development grants. It’s done that by offering bucket-list sweepstakes with prizes that get progressively more amazing. The latest: a chance to join the drivers on the grid for the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix. Learn more about the contest here. The winnings will be announced on May 5.