The 1st Nikkei "Seiichi Hoshi Award" Ceremony

The first Nikkei "Seiichi Hoshi Award" (Organizer: The Nikkei Inc. / Special Sponsor: IHI / Sponsors: JBCC Holdings, Tokyo Electron) award ceremony was held on March 15 at the The National Art Center, Tokyo in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Named after author Shinichi Hoshi, this literary prize recognizes works born from scientific thinking that transcend conventional genres and forms. Entries totaled 2,546 in the general category and 511 in the junior category. The general category grand prize went to Shinichi Endo's "From the 'Valley of Fear' to the 'Peak of Ecstasy': Its Policy Applications," while the junior category grand prize was awarded to Chiho Matsuda's "Grandma."

 

 

Masataka Sato, Vice President of Nikkei Inc., stated, "The number of submissions exceeded our expectations, and the standard was exceptionally high. We hope today marks the beginning of science-based literature expanding further from 'imagination' to 'creation.'" Marina Hoshi, Shinichi Hoshi's second daughter, said, "Interesting stories remain in people's hearts forever, continuing to influence and broaden their world. That is truly wonderful, and we hope the winning works of the Shinichi Hoshi Award will be like that."

 

Endo expressed his joy, saying, "This work is experimental, written in a format resembling an academic paper. I was unsure how it would fare as a novel, but I saw this award as an opportunity and submitted it. I'm very happy this style was recognized. I want to keep writing challenging works from now on." Writer Motoko Arai, a judge, commented, "Works like Mr. Hoshi's short-shorts seem easy to write but are actually very difficult. I was surprised to see so many well-written ones in the junior division. The winners in the general division were all men. I hope to see more unconventional works and greater participation from women."

Winning Works (Titles Only)
<General Division>
Grand Prize (Shinichi Hoshi Award) Shinichi Endo "From the 'Valley of Fear' to the 'Peak of Ecstasy' ~ Its Policy Applications"
Runner-up (IHI Award) Keita Aikawa "Pillow"
Excellence Award (JBCC Holdings Award) Katsutake Haruna "Authentication"
Excellence Award (Tokyo Electron Award) Kaname Madokawa "A World Where Alarm Clocks Ring in the Morning"
＜Junior Division＞
Grand Prize (Shinichi Hoshi Award) Tomohiro Matsuda "Grandma"
*A collection of winning works will be sold as an e-book on the "Nikkei Store" e-book sales site in late March.
Details are available on the official website.