The Singapore Prize and eSports
The Singapore Prize is a biennial award given to authors for their published works. It is the second highest literary prize in Singapore after the Epigram Books Fiction Prize. Winners receive a cash prize and an engraved trophy. The prize is funded by the government of Singapore and aims to recognize exceptional writing in Chinese, English or Malay. The prize is administered by the National Book Development Council of Singapore.
eSports players will receive a bigger prize pool than ever before when the 2023 Singapore Prize is awarded this week. The prize money will be $16 million, which is more than double the previous record of $7.2 million set in 2021. The winning player will also get a minimum of two seasons worth of OWGR points and berths in key events, which will help him climb to the top of the rankings.
Runners-up will get between $100,000 and $250,000, depending on their finishing position. The winner will also earn a spot at the 2023 World Cyber Games in China. The event is expected to draw tens of thousands of fans from all over the world.
In the world of eSports, the most prominent players earn millions of dollars in prize money from competing in various tournaments. For example, Koh Daryl Pei Xiang (iceiceice) of Team Malaysia won around 215 thousand U.S. dollars in winnings in the 2017 season. The eSports industry is estimated to be worth 1.87 billion U.S. dollars by 2022, according to a new report from research firm MarketsandMarkets.
The winners of this year’s Singapore Prize are a group of people who were able to make changes to their lives and bring about positive impact on society. They were selected from over 300 nominations by a panel of judges. They will also be honoured at an awards ceremony that is set to take place this month.
For the first time, the awards ceremony will be accompanied by a series of events to be known as Earthshot Week. It will take place from November 6 to 11, and it will see the winners convene with global leaders, businesses and investors to accelerate their solutions and bring about tangible action that repairs the planet. The public will also be invited to experience local activations centered on the 2023 cohort of Earthshot solutions.
Professor Miksic congratulated Ms Hidayah for winning the Singapore Prize, saying that it was an affirmation that “ordinary people have stories to tell.” He added that her book Leluhur: Singapore Kampong Glam (2019) was both a synthesis of history and a primary source due to her personal inputs.
Poet Grace Chia, who did not win the prize for her collection Cordelia, accused the judges of sexism in their selection of the winning poems. She posted a speech on Facebook, which she later removed. She said that the prize skewed towards male narratives of poetic discourse, which reeks of “engendered privilege” and “narrow vision.” She also criticised the fact that the award was shared between two poets, rather than one.