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Akutagawa Prize

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The Akutagawa Prize (芥川龍之介賞 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō) is Japan's most prestigious literary award. Established in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, the editor of Bungei Shunjū magazine, in memory of novelist Akutagawa Ryunosuke, it is sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Shinkō Kai), and is awarded semiannually in January and July to the best story of a purely literary nature published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author. The winner receives a pocket watch and a cash award of 1 million yen. Short stories and novellas win the prize more frequently than do full-length novels. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is Japan’s most sought after literary prize.

Winners of the Akutagawa Prize:


Occasionally, when consensus cannot be reached between judges over disputes about the winning story or the quality of work for that half year, no prize is awarded. The judges usually include contemporary writers, literary critics, and former winners of the prize. From 1945 through 1948, no prizes were awarded due to postwar instability.

On January 15, 2004, the awarding of the 130th Akutagawa Prize made significant news when two women became the award’s youngest winners. The prize went to both Wataya Risa, 19, and Kanehara Hitomi, 20. Previously, the youngest Akutagawa winners were all 23-year-old males, among them the current Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and novelist Oe Kenzaburo, who later went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994.

See also: List of Japanese literary awards

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