Singapore Literature Prize

The Singapore Literature Prize (abbreviation: SLP) is a biennial award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil.

The competition is organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) with the support of the National Arts Council and the National Library Board.

The Award was briefly discontinued in 1999 and 2002 due to economic problems.[1]

2014

For the first time, the award offers 12 top prizes of up to $10,000 each for the best works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry in Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. In previous years, fiction competed with poetry for one award in each language.

In July 2014, three judges of the English non-fiction category of the prize resigned in protest against the National Library Board's removal and pulping of controversial children's titles. Mr T. Sasitharan, a prominent arts educator; former journalist Romen Bose; and American author and Writer-in-Residence at Yale-NUS College, Robin Hemley were subsequently replaced.[2] The Prize also received flak for perhaps spreading itself too thin, and for naming the non-fiction prizes after a sponsor, the publisher World Scientific.[3]

A day after the winners were announced at an awards ceremony on 4 November 2014, poet-editor Grace Chia, whose poetry collection Cordelia was shortlisted but did not win in the English Poetry section, delivered a speech in absentia at the Singapore Writers Festival which accused the Prize of sexism. Chia wrote, "The fact that the prize has been given to two co-winners who are both male poets is deeply informing of choice, taste and affirmation. A prize so coveted that it has been apportioned to two male narratives of poetic discourse, instead of one outstanding poet - reeks of an engendered privilege that continues to plague this nation's literary community." Chia also posted her speech on Facebook before subsequently removing it. In response, one of the poetry judges, poet and literary critic Gwee Li Sui, said, "All entries have an equal chance of consideration for winning, and we discussed it based on that point alone, and on the strengths of the collections." The other poetry judges were prominent female poet Leong Liew Geok and poet Boey Kim Cheng.[4]

Fiction

English
Chinese
Malay
Tamil

Poetry

English
Malay
Tamil

Non-fiction

English
Chinese
Malay
Tamil

2012

English Category
Chinese Category
Malay Category
Tamil Category

2010

English Category
Chinese Category (co-Winners)
Malay Category
Tamil Category

2008

English category
Chinese category
Malay category
Tamil category

2006

English category
Chinese category
Malay category
Tamil category (Merit Prize)

2004

English category
Chinese category
Malay category
Tamil category

2000 (as The Dymocks Singapore Literature Prize)

1998 Fiction

Merit
Commendation

1997 Poetry

Merit

1996 Fiction

Winner
Commendation

1995 Poetry

Winner
Merit
Commendation

1994 Fiction

Merit
Commendation

1993

Poetry

Merit
Commendation

Drama

Merit
Commendation

1992 Fiction

Winner
Commendation

Notes

  1. ↑ Journal of Commonwealth Literature 2000, (p. 99)
  2. ↑ Akshita, Nanda (27 August 2014). "NLB saga: New judges for Singapore Literature Prize". The Straits Times (Singapore Press Holdings). Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Nanda, Akshita (7 October 2014). "Singapore Literature Prize not on same page as publishers". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  4. ↑ Tan, Corrie (6 November 2014). "Gender bias allegations over Singapore Literature Prize English Poetry results". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

References