Japanese Literary Awards

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Dengeki Novel Grand Prize でんげきしょうせつたいしょう

Edition 18 (2011)

Light novelNewcomer literary award

Winners

4 people
小瀬朧 grand prize

In Showa 101, people in Jinten, a ruined town in the war-devastated island nation of Yashima, live under the threat of rampaging war machines. While fleeing, a girl named Kanaha meets Kuyo, a boy sleeping in a coffin, and a giant bee, then forms a master-servant contract with him. Kuyo is a super-high-performance strategic weapon called a Kichu, and through his encounters with Kanaha he begins to learn human emotions.

A nonstop action story in a devastated future island nation, where a girl forms a contract with a boy who is a strategic weapon.

344 pages
warwar machinesmaster-servant contractsartificial intelligenceemotionspost-apocalyptic world
貫井輝 gold prize

Izumo Yasaka, a high school student who hopes to become a folklorist, encounters an event identical to the urban legend Murasaki Kagami while researching it. After meeting a girl who calls herself an Urban Legend Spirit, Murasaki Kagami, Izumo sets out to compile the stories of many such beings into a book.

A supernatural tale in which a high school compiler meets charming yet unsettling urban legends.

328 pages
urban legendsfolklore studiessupernatural phenomenapersonificationhigh school life
告鳥友紀 silver prize

In a society whose residential districts are divided by extreme income inequality, seventeen-year-old Jaifa, who comes from an underground slum, meets Harutsuki Fuyuse while attempting a theft on the surface. He becomes Harutsuki's partner in Wizard & Warrior With Money, a competitive game played by teams of a wizard and a warrior, and begins to reconsider a life built on the belief that taking from others is justice.

A battle fantasy in which a boy from an underground slum and a girl from a mansion enter a two-person competition in a deeply unequal society.

296 pages
social inequalitypoverty and classtheft and justicecompetitive battlespartnershipcoming of age
松本楽志 encouragement award

Aioi Sakura, a student at Hozuki Academy, can read another person's mind for one minute with an ability called Minutes. He uses it to appear to be a dependable class representative as he pursues his ambition of becoming student-council president. When vice president Haruka Kotomiya discovers his secret, Sakura enters the psychological Baka and Genius Game that she proposes, each trying to gain leverage over the other.

A school romance in which a boy who can read minds for one minute and a girl who learns his secret play a psychological game.

328 pages
mind readingpsychological gamesschool lifestrategic maneuveringromance