The 5th Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Award is now accepting submissions.

The Nikkei Inc. is accepting submissions for the 5th Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Award. This award, established in Japan in 2013 as the nation's first "science-oriented literature" prize, honors the renowned science fiction writer Shinichi Hoshi.

Submissions are accepted in three categories: General, Student, and Junior. The themes are: "Write a story that fully utilizes your scientific imagination to stimulate the reader's mind," "Write a story imagining the future 30 years from now," and "Write a story imagining the future 100 years from now."

The General Division will award a Grand Prize (Hoshi Shin'ichi Award) and six Excellence Awards. The Student and Junior Divisions will each award a Grand Prize, Runner-up Prize, and Excellence Awards.

The judges are: Hikaru Ota (Talent), Yusuke Kishi (Novelist), Naoko Yamazaki (Astronaut), Yutaka Matsuo (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo), Hideki Ishida (Representative, Earth Village Laboratory LLC; Professor Emeritus, Tohoku University), and Junichi Taki (Editorial Writer, Nikkei Inc.).

Additional interim judges include: Nozomu Omori (Translator, Book Reviewer, SF Anthologist) Akira Kagami (SF Writer, Critic) Shinji Maki (SF Researcher, Literary Critic) Makoto Yamagishi (SF Translator)

The deadline is September 30. Details can be found on the award website: http://hoshiaward.nikkei.co.jp/