Akutagawa Prize

The Akutagawa Prize (芥川龍之介賞, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō^?) is a Japanese literary award presented semi-annually. It was established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, in memory of author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It is currently sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, and is awarded in January ('E' in the list, below) and July ('L' in the list below) to the best serious literary story 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, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes.

E = first half of year. L = second half of year

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.

The award lost some credibility in 1972 when one of its winners, Akio Miyahara, was found to have committed plagiarism.

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 males over 23 years old, among them the former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and novelist Kenzaburō Ōe who later went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994.

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