The Yale-NUS Literary Awards ran from 2017 to 2023. It was an annual competition open to all Yale-NUS students that sought to recognize and promote excellence in creative writing. Students may submit work in five categories: Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Poetry, Playwriting or Screenwriting, and in recent years, Comics. Judges are selected from established authors in the Singaporean writing community and beyond. It has since been developed into the Writers’ Centre Literary Awards.
2023
Thank you to all students who submitted to the 2023 Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- F.H. Batacan (Fiction)
- Jon D’Agata (Non-fiction)
- Mary Jo Bang (Poetry)
- Faith Ng (Playwriting/Screenwriting)
- Yao Xiao (Comics)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Anisha Drall, Class of 2023, “Where does the sky end?”
- Second Place: Silvia Suseno, Class of 2024, “Dependency”
- Third Place: Jack Xi, Class of 2024 “Mimics; or, the frog prince”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Max Pasakorn, Class of 2024, “On Mothers, Chickens, and the Thai Alphabet”
- Second Place: Kaezeel Yeo, Class of 2024, “Call her Cleopatra Wong…If You Call Her At All”
- Third Place: Jack Xi, Class of 2024, “Diatom Eve”
Poetry
- First Place: Max Pasakorn, Class of 2024, “Auto-Gloss”
- Second Place: Naomi Lugtu, Class of 2024, “love.undefined”
- Third Place: Anisha Drall, Class of 2023, “5 Poems on Love”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Christie Esther Chiu, Class of 2023, “Lan Hua”
- Runner Up: Tran Quang Anh (Billy), Class of 2024, “The Scholarship”
Comics
- First Place: Reisha Lee, Class of 2023, “Things That I’ve Learnt”
- Runner Up: Chua Zi Heng, Glenn, Class of 2025, “Love is a Choice: Stories From An Adopted Child” and Hong Jin, Class of 2023, “Sometimes I Wonder Where We’re Headed After We Die”
Our prizewinners read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 27, 2023, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2022
Thank you to all students who submitted to the 2022 Literary Awards. For this year, we’ve also introduced the Comics category too. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Romesh Gunesekera (Fiction)
- Wayne Koestenbaum (Non-fiction)
- Don Mee Choi (Poetry)
- Jean Tay (Playwriting/Screenwriting)
- Ezra C. Daniels (Comics)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Areet Roychowdhury, Class of 2022, “Dadu”
- Second Place: Wisha Jamal, Class of 2022, “The Good Mother”
- Third Place: Foo Yoke Tong (Ada), Class of 2022, “The Girl who has Horns”
- Honourable Mention: Nikki Yeo Ying, Class of 2022, “Dovetail”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Mak Rui Teng, Phoebe, Class of 2022, “autobiography of my momma”
- Second Place: Jack Xi, Class of 2024, “Lateral Lines”
- Third Place: Ernest Chua Kai Guan, Class of 2022, “Leap of Faith”
- Honourable Mention: Max Pasakorn, Class of 2024, “Dragged Out of Us: Memorializing Post-Pandemic Drag in Singapore”
Poetry
- First Place: Nikki Yeo Ying Ying, Class of 2022, “Since mother hates to read”
- Second Place: Violet Jordan Hara, Class of 2022 “Orienting”
- Third Place: Silvia Suseno, Class of 2024, “about audrey”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Dakshayani Ravindran, Class of 2024, “NOT ANOTHER PLAY ABOUT A GIRL IN HER TWENTIES”
- Second Place: Mak Rui Teng, Phoebe, Class of 2022, “the knife is sharper than the pain: a monologue”
- Third Place: Wisha Jamal, Class of 2022, “Aurat”
- Honourable Mention: Felipe Waldeck, Class of 2024, “This is Just a Bar”
Our finalists read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 27, 2022, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2021
Thank you to all students who submitted to this year’s Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Elaine Castillo (Fiction)
- Shubigi Rao (Non-fiction)
- Adrian Matejka (Poetry)
- Joel Tan (Playwriting/Screenwriting)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Violet Jordan Hara, Class of 2022, “An Inquiry into Theft”
- Second Place: Sean Chua, Class of 2021, “NEW WAYS OF LOVING IN TEN DEGREES OF FREEDOM”
- Third Place: Alfred Jason Tai, Class of 2022, “Pieces of Paper”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Vanessa Thian, Class of 2022, “Softly”
- Second Place: Wu Xinyi, Class of 2022, “A Letter to My Mother”
- Third Place: Adeline Loh, Class of 2021, “Inheritance”
Poetry
- First Place: Goh Xuanlin, Jasmine, Class of 2021, “Figs”
- Second Place: Sean Chua, Class of 2021, “Excavations”
- Third Place: Jack Xi, “A Lot Like Ourselves”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Cheang Chu Ying, Class of 2021, “Only the Female Mosquitoes Draw Blood”
- Second Place: Sheryl Teo, Class of 2022, “HUAN”
- Third Place: Wisha Jamal, Class of 2022, “Returning”
Our prizewinners read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 23, 2021, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2020
Thank you to all students who submitted to this year’s Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Nuraliah Norasid (Fiction)
- Linda Collins (Non-fiction)
- Yeow Kai Chai (Poetry)
- Huzir Sulaiman (Screenwriting/Playwriting)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Gabriel Ng Swee Khiang, Class of 2022, “Revolutions”
- Second Place: Mak Rui Teng Phoebe, Class of 2022, “On Ceremony”
- Third Place: Wisha Jamal, Class of 2022, “The Prayer Mat”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Adeline Loh, Class of 2021, “The Stages of Standard Ballroom”
- Second Place: Kwan Yi-Hao Andrew, Class of 2020, “Remember the Forgetful”
- Third Place: Joanne Ho Siu Ann, Class of 2021, “Seletar Camp and 1,001 Escapes”
Poetry
- First Place: Kan Ren Jie, Class of 2020, “A Brief History of Small Fires”
- Second Place: Hoo Yong Chuan Shawn, Class of 2020, “Penal Beauty”
- Third Place: lee ann, Class of 2022, “The Slight Bend and Crack of a City: Mania & Dissociation”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Sya Le Roux, Class of 2020, “Letters to Finland”
- Second Place: Alistair Ryan, Class of 2020 and Class of 2019, “After Life”
- Third Place: Mak Rui Teng Phoebe, Class of 2022, “The Infinite Pawnshop: Treasure Transcending Time”
Our prizewinners read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 23, 2020 via Zoom, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2019
Thank you to all students who submitted to this year’s Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Lysley Tenorio (Fiction)
- David Carlin (Non-fiction)
- Pooja Nansi (Poetry)
- Dynn Othman and Alfian Sa’at (Playwriting/Screenwriting)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Erika Loh, Class of 2022, “House-hunting”
- Second Place: Gem Tan, Class of 2019, “Bogeying with a Singaporean Bogeyman”
- Third Place: Myle Yan Tay, Class of 2019, “In Case of Emergency Open Otherwise Do Not”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Chrystal Ho Jia Min, Class of 2019, “prayer cranes”
- Second Place: Adeline Loh, Class of 2021, “Green with Guilt, Green with Grief”
- Third Place: Chia Yaim Chong, Class of 2020, “family”
Poetry
- First Place: See Wern Hao, Class of 2020, “flaring & recurring
- Second Place: Al Lim, Class of 2019, “Imprint (iii, iv)”
- Third Place: Syafiqah Nabilah, Class of 2020, “If I Could Hold The World In My Hands I Would Probably Squish It”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Myle Yan Tay, Class of 2019, “Shells”
- Second Place: Anthea Julia Chua & Jirasiri Techalapanarasme, Class of 2020 and Class of 2019, “Flamingos”
- Third Place: Cheang Chu Ying, Class of 2021, “Bree Won’t Talk About Her Baby”
Our prizewinners read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 17, 2019, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2018
Thank you to all students who submitted to this year’s Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Sharon Solwitz (Fiction)
- Jen Percy (Non-fiction)
- Jason Wee (Poetry)
- Bryant Chan and Baoyun Cheo (Playwriting)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Paul Maravillas Jerusalem, Class of 2019, “Balikbayan Box”
- Second Place: Rebecka Lucia Lindeberg, Class of 2018, “Don’t Forget to Wear Gloves”
- Honourable Mention: Lim Min, Class of 2018, “Augustus Learns to Slow Dance”
- Honorable Mention: Dynn Othman, Class of 2018, “Ex-Bellboy Tell-All Interview Reveals Horrors of Haising Hotel”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Paul Maravillas Jerusalem, Class of 2019, “The Yerushalayim Blessing / My Parents’ Shadow”
- Second Place: Cliona Yong, Class of 2018, “The Names of Things That Aren’t”
- Honorable Mention: Sasha Aman, Class of 2019, “Forgiving Dada: Conversations with Myself”
Poetry
- First Place: Chrystal Ho Jia Min, Class of 2019, “Postcards from Alyki”
- Second Place: See Wern Hao, Class of 2020, “Archetype”
- Honourable Mention: Al Lim, Class of 2019, “Whose Body is Drawn”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Dynn Othman, Class of 2018, “shadows NEVER die!”
- Second Place: Syafiqah Nabilah, Class of 2020, “How Did I Mess Up This Bad; An Analysis”
- Honourable Mention: Myle Yan Tay, Class of 2019, “Master Race”
- Honourable Mention: Roshan Singh Sambhi, Class of 2018, “The Bright Side”
Our prizewinners read at The Celebration of the Written Word event on April 18, 2018, honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
2017
Thank you to all students who submitted to the first annual Literary Awards. After a competitive selection process, winners were chosen by external judges. This year’s judges included:
- Geronimo Johnson (Fiction)
- Nicole Walker (Nonfiction)
- Richard Deming (Poetry)
- Lisa Zeidner (Playwriting/Screenwriting)
Yale-NUS College is delighted to announce the following winners in each category:
Fiction
- First Place: Bryant Chan, Class of 2017, “Deus Ex Olympia”
- Second Place: Myle Yan Tay, Class of 2019, “Bunker”
- Honourable Mention: Raeden Richardson, Class of 2017, “Chow’s Trade Solutions”
Non-fiction
- First Place: Lishani Ramanayake, Class of 2018, “White Walled”
- Second Place: Abdul Hamid Bin Roslan, Class of 2017, “forest”
- Honourable Mention: Bryant Chan, Class of 2017, “How to Tell a True War Story”
Poetry
- First Place: Paul Maravillas Jerusalem, Class of 2019, “Tongues”
- Second Place: Teo Xiao Ting, Class of 2018, Untitled Collection
- Honourable Mention: Abdul Hamid Bin Roslan, Class of 2017, “tree”
Playwriting/Screenwriting
- First Place: Roshan Singh Sambhi, Class of 2018, “Properties of Easiness”
- Second Place: Myle Yan Tay, Class of 2019, “Growing Up Green”
- Honorable Mention: Bryant Chan, Class of 2017 “Daisy, Daisy”
Our prizewinners read at the Yale-NUS Black Box Theatre on April 17, 2017, followed by a reception honoring all of our prizewinners and the accomplishments of the creative writing community at Yale-NUS.
