The winner of a $23 million Singapore prize was picked in a special drawing on October 2. The winning ticket was bought online through the Singapore Pools app. It is not known if the winning numbers were matched by one individual or several people. The previous record for a single-ticket jackpot was set in the same month in 2023.
The award carries a citation and a medallion designed by Singapore artist Yeo Cheet. The winner will also receive a cash prize of S$25,000. The Singapore Prize is awarded to outstanding researchers, professionals and organisations that have made significant contributions in the areas of science, technology and innovation. It is a biennial award from the National Research Council of Singapore and is named after renowned scientist Lee Kuan Yew.
Little Travis Wong left Europe this month with a couple of new additions to his expanding collection of achievements. The nine-year-old violinist won the absolute – or overall – prize at the 31st Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Fermo, central Italy, besting participants more than three times his age.
Britain’s Prince William has unveiled the winners of his Earthshot prize, an initiative he launched in 2020 to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to develop technologies that will help combat climate change. He visited Singapore for the third annual awards ceremony, and said that he was inspired by all of the 15 finalist solutions to see that “hope does remain” in the face of the current environmental crisis.
Celebrities including Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, actors Donnie Yen and Lana Condor, and Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin joined the prince as they walked a green carpet at the Mediacorp Theatre for the award ceremony. The prince, who looked coordinated in a dark velour suit and dickie bow, praised the five winners for their work to tackle issues such as nature protection, clean air, ocean revival and waste elimination.
Professor Gertjan Medema, the founder of KWR Water, won the 2024 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize for his work to provide safe and sustainable drinking water through a process called reverse osmosis (RO). The prize is the world’s highest for water innovations, and the first to be given to an academic. The prize includes a medallion, an inscription certificate and a cheque for S$30,000.
Besides the top prize, there were also 10 other finalists who each received a cash prize of S$10,000. The winners were picked by a panel of judges that included scientists and representatives from the public. The prizes were announced during a gala dinner hosted by the Singapore Water Corporation in conjunction with the International Water Week 2024. The event was held at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre. The finalists were selected from more than 400 applications. Applicants were judged on their innovation, technical excellence and potential impact on the water industry. They also had to show good track record and financial stability. The other finalists were Bionomics, iMotion Labs, Innovate Water, nSymbiotic, and StreamLabs.
