A Singapore prize that recognises important publications on history was launched in 2014 as part of the national SG50 programme to mark the country’s 50th anniversary of independence. The NUS Singapore History Prize, which was created to honour works that have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the island nation’s past, carries a top prize of S$50,000 and is open to both local and international scholars.

The first winner of the Singapore prize was archaeologist John Miksic for his work on the early history of Singapore. Miksic’s book explains how literary references and archaeological digs indicate that Temasek was already inhabited long before Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819. He also reveals how discoveries such as glass shards and bronze bowls indicate that the early settlers lived in relative wealth and prosperity.

Another award recipient was poet Cyril Wong, who was honoured for his body of work that examines postcolonial and modernist themes. The author of six books and numerous articles, Wong was educated at the University of Poona and Oxford. He has been a professor of English at Yale-NUS College since 1988 and is the co-founder and director of the Centre for Literature Studies.

Also presented at the ceremony was a special achievement award for Malay writer Suratman Markasan, who died earlier this year. His daughter, Dr Suriani Suratman, accepted the honour on his behalf. The event was held at the Substation Theatre and was supported by the Singapore Film Commission, The Shooting Gallery, Infinite Frameworks Face to Face, Hong Leong Foundation Handburger and Sakae Sushi.

Besides the awards, there was also a celebration of South East Asian cinema and the arts at the Mediacorp Theatre. The evening was hosted by actress Hannah Waddingham and three-time Emmy winning actor Sterling K. Brown and featured performances by Bastille, OneRepublic, Bebe Rexha and Robert Irwin.

This year, the Singapore prize’s theme is “resonance” – the idea that stories have the power to touch people and connect them to the past. Kishore Mahbubani, the senior advisor (university and global relations) at the NUS Asia Research Institute who mooted the idea for the award, said that there are plans to expand the criteria of what can qualify for the prize, such as including films like 12 Years a Slave, which tells a historical story. This is because he believes that sometimes, a shared imagination of the past is “the critical glue holding societies together”.