Sidney Prize Winners

Every year New York Times columnist David Brooks awards Sidney prizes, which honor the year’s best long-form essays about politics and culture. This year’s winner is “The Coddling of the American Mind,” an engrossing piece about students whose hypersensitivity leads them to avoid anything that might offend their fragile sensibilities—even if it means missing out on lifelong opportunities. The essay aptly coined the term “vindictive protectiveness” to describe this mindset and its harmful effects on the young.

It’s a worthy winner and well worth your time to read it in full. You can do so on the Times’ website. It’s an important reminder of why long-form journalism is so important in our age of zipless, electronic media. The prize has been named after a 19th-century philosopher, Sidney Hook, who wrote on the power of ideas and the danger of dogmatism. The winners this year exemplify those values.

Other notable winners include Matt Labash’s sympathetic, gripping profile of Marion Barry, the rascally former mayor of Washington, D.C., who was also a crack-smoker and girlfriend-stalker. It’s not easy to write about such a complicated man and pull it off with the grace and clarity Labash did.

The winner of the prize that honours the memory of Sydney University alumnus Sir Sidney Poitier has been chosen – Professor Philippe Sands QC. He has demonstrated extraordinary leadership, displaying the public spirit of Sir Sidney through his professional advocacy for those without money or power to defend their civil and human rights, address the legacies of colonialism, and protect the global environment.

If you’re looking for more long-form journalism and thought, Overland publishes a range of articles that are well worth a look. You can get a free digital subscription to the magazine when you sign up here.

At the bottom of the page, you can sign up for a free trial, which will give you four issues to decide whether Overland is for you. It’s a great way to discover new voices and think about the big questions of our time.

Many faculties, schools and disciplines award prizes for their top students based on academic merit. You can find these below, sorted by university school. Some require an application, but others don’t. The Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Prize for Leadership celebrates the work of HDR students who lead their studies through involvement in their school, faculty and University committees, and community outreach. No application is necessary, as eligible candidates are nominated by their school. Read more here.

Singapore Pools’ Digital Transformation Initiatives in the Last Year

The Singapore Pools website and mobile app provide a safe, trusted environment to counter illegal gambling and bettors are always assured that their funds are safe. Moreover, they also offer responsible gaming and ensure that their players’ winnings are not withdrawn until the WINNERS’ ID number has been verified. This way, they can help them to recover from gambling addiction and prevent gambling from becoming a problem for people who use the service.

In the last year, Singapore Pools has made significant progress in its digital transformation strategy. The company has streamlined its IT infrastructure, reduced the time taken to resolve incidents and improved their service delivery. They have also embraced automation and cloud technologies to achieve operational efficiencies and scale their business.

In addition, they are ensuring that their IT systems are ready for the next generation of gamblers and customers. By leveraging Oracle Cloud Observability and Management, they can identify issues quickly and address them in minutes instead of hours. The platform has also enabled them to monitor their data in real-time, allowing them to detect potential problems and optimize system resources accordingly.

They have implemented a new identity verification process for their online betting site that requires users to upload an image of their NRIC or FIN (accredited Singapore identification number). This ensures that only people with authentic identities can use the service. Users can choose to be verified by video call or at a Singapore Pools branch, and the verification will take no more than three days.

Another initiative is the launch of iShine, a mobile application that connects volunteers with events and volunteering opportunities. In addition, they have introduced a new football betting service in support of professional football development in the country and changed their TOTO format to a ’6 out of 45’ game. The organization has also launched iTOTO and Group TOTO, two new ways to share a bet.

iShine Cloud has also helped charities keep their operations running during the COVID-19 crisis, as the technology has been crucial in the organisation’s ability to reach out to more donors and mobilise volunteers. It has onboarded 31 charities with 1,512 users and plans to continue to grow its solutions to enable them to reach out to more beneficiaries in the future.

The flamboyantly stylish W Singapore on Sentosa Island is the place to be for beach-bod babes and hunks, and its WET pool is one of the best resort pools in Singapore. The hotel’s restaurant, SKIRT, also deserves attention for its steak dishes and date-night feels. Its price point, however, is fairly demanding and may deter frequent return visits by those not staying at the property. Still, it is worth checking out for the experience of a lifetime.