Takahashi Shoten Announces the 17th "Diary Grand Prize"

Takahashi Shoten held the 17th "Diary Grand Prize" announcement and award ceremony at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo in Chiyoda Ward on October 29. The company launched this event in 1996 with the hope of "making diaries feel more accessible and encouraging their greater use in daily life." The total number of entries over the past 16 years has reached approximately 223,000.

Entries were solicited in two categories: "Quotes and Sayings from People Close to You" (which made you want to jot it down in your planner) and "Product Planning" (for planners, diaries, and household account books). A total of 22,036 entries were received. Guest judges included columnist Izumi Asato, author Shiina Makoto, and haiku poet Mayuzumi Madoka.

In the Quotes and Sayings category, Sōsuke Furuki's entry, "Truly good things are all made for free, aren't they?", won the Grand Prize, earning the ¥500,000 prize money as promised by the contest's tagline, "Impress Takahashi and win ¥500,000." The Excellence Awards went to Ikuko Okuma's "When you're breastfeeding, you're holding them with your eyes too, aren't you?" and Mayu Kondo's "A parent's words are ventriloquism that you hear with a delay." Additionally, the Izumi Masato Award went to Wakako Sugimoto's "When you're tired, go somewhere green and just 'boing' around!", the Shiina Makoto Award to Takashi Wada's "Can you even remember your worries from a year ago?", and the Mayuzumi Madoka Award to Kyoko Takahashi's "I think 'the length of life is one of the individual differences'."

In the Product Planning category, two entries received Excellence Awards: Kenichi Sato's "Center-bound notebook for rough scheduling" and Tomiko Nagatomi's "The schedule book I want."

Company President Hideo Takahashi stated, "We received over 20,000 entries again this year. From those, I believe we selected even better quotes and maxims than last year." A video message from Toshin Satellite Prep School and Toshin High School instructor Osamu Hayashi, a devoted user of Takahashi Shoten planners, was shown at the venue. He commented, "I'm a heavy user who keeps using Takahashi planners. I hope they continue making them in the same form forever."

The 18th "Diary Grand Prize" is currently accepting entries until March 31 next year. Details can be found on the Takahashi Shoten website.