The 3rd Nikkei "Seiichi Hoshi Award" Ceremony Held Grand Prize in the General Category: Mr. Minoru Sato

The award ceremony for the 3rd Nikkei "Shinichi Hoshi Award" (Organizer: The Nikkei, Special Sponsor: IHI, Sponsors: JBCC Holdings, Tokyo Electron, Amada Holdings, NSK) was held on March 12 at the The National Art Center, Tokyo in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Named after the late science fiction writer Shinichi Hoshi, known as the "God of Short Shorts," the award was established in 2013 as a literary prize that challenges scientific thinking and creativity.

The writing prompts were: * General Division: "Please write a story that fully utilizes your scientific thinking to stimulate the reader's mind." * Newly Established Student Division: "Please write a story imagining the future 30 years from now." * Junior Division (for junior high school students and younger): "Please write a story creating the future 100 years from now." Submissions totaled 2,561 entries: 1,449 for the General Division, 349 for the Student Division, and 763 for the Junior Division. The contest accepted works from both professionals and amateurs, including non-human creators, with 11 entries submitted by artificial intelligence.

The Grand Prize in the General Division went to Minoru Sato's "Launch Free," the Student Division Grand Prize to Yasushi Matsuo's "Ghost Story of 2045," and the Junior Division Grand Prize to Kiyoshi Arai's "The Beauty of Colorlessness."

The General Division Grand Prize winner, "Launch Free," tells the story of a former astronaut who aspired to be a spacecraft crew member but lost his life's goal when the space elevator became a reality. Judge and science fiction writer Tsukasa Higashino commented, "The final selections featured works that successfully balanced narrative structure with scientific ingenuity. Among them, the winning work possesses remarkable drama. I truly saw space."

 

Award Winners (Titles Only)

<General Division>
Grand Prize (Shinichi Hoshi Award) Minoru Sato "Launch Free"
Runner-up (IHI Award) Natsuro Hitotori "Filling That Void with Replicas"
Excellence Award (JBCC Holdings Award) Keita Aikawa "The 37th Nikkei Seiichi Hoshi Award Final Judging - Or, How to Write the Ultimate Novel"
Excellence Award (Tokyo Electron Award) Tō Sahara "Proteina"
Excellence Award (AMADA Holdings Award) Junmizu Tsukidate "Bit Flip"
Excellence Award (Nippon Seiko Award) Sō Suzuki "Plastid α"

<Student Division>
Grand Prize (Hoshi Shinichi Award) Yasushi Matsuo "Ghost Story of 2045"
Runner-up Grand Prize: Keisei Ishihara "September Traveler"
Excellence Award: Ayu Asakage "spares"

＜Junior Division＞
Grand Prize (Shinichi Hoshi Award) Kiyoshi Arai "The Beauty of Colorlessness"
Runner-up Prize: Kamayama Hodaka "Isshin Tokei"
Excellence Award: Kurokuma Hana "Bug Bites"
Excellence Award: Chisato Hino "Robot Tuna"
Excellence Award: Takada Ayami "Flowers with Hearts"

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Details on the award website: http://hoshiaward.nikkei.co.jp/