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 24 (2017)

Light novelNewcomer literary award

Winners

7 people
うーぱー grand prize

Tata, a woman claiming to be a magician from another world, appears in a first-year high-school classroom. When every student's and teacher's future dream comes true, the school is cut off in another world. Armed with the dreams they once held, the students face a harsh struggle to return to Japan.

A survival struggle begins as students turn their old dreams into strength and seek a way back from a school lost in another world.

296 pages
future dreamsotherworld survivalhigh-school studentsreturning home
こがらし輪音 grand prize

Mizusu Ichizuka, a high-school student who cannot believe in dreams for the future, meets her classmate Tomohiro Azumaya, who builds a rocket from scrap and pursues an impossible dream. Drawn to someone so different from herself, Mizusu comes to face his secret and a promise from childhood.

A coming-of-age fantasy in which a girl meets a boy pursuing his dream and heads toward a promise and a miraculous ending.

258 pages
coming of agedreamspromisesspacegrowth
葉月文 gold prize

Yu meets Yuki Shiina, a mysterious girl who somehow already knows him. Through repeated encounters and partings, they build up fading memories and a promise that seems never to have existed.

A poignant, one-time-only story of two people tracing the memories of a lost love.

312 pages
coming of ageromancememorypartingpromises
西条陽 gold prize

Yoki and Shuka, investigators from the sky nation of Central, travel the vast world below to examine ruins, unknown creatures, and strange phenomena. This linked short-story collection follows the mismatched pair as their encounters with people lead them toward its mysteries.

Two investigators set out into a vast world of mysterious ruins and unknown creatures.

328 pages
curiosity about the unknowninvestigation and travelcivilization and valuespartnershipstrange phenomena
Shinji Kobukubo silver prize

In a devastated Japan where the Rust Wind threatens human life, mushroom keeper Bisco Akaboshi searches for Rust Eater, a legendary medicinal mushroom that may save his dying mentor. With the young doctor Milo as his partner, he crosses iron-sand deserts and abandoned railways while confronting persecution and the schemes of those in power.

To save someone dear, a powerful bow shoots through the rust of ruin.

376 pages
post-apocalyptic Japanmushroom keepersjourney and adventurefriendshiphealing and hope
江中みのり Media Works Bunko Award

Yoshiwara Hyakka: A Bite of a Dream is a historical novel set in Edo-period Yoshiwara, portraying people's lives and feelings through sweets. It looks beyond the glamorous surface of the pleasure quarter and connects the loneliness and wishes of those who live and work there with memories of sweet flavors.

A single bite of confectionery gently illuminates the dreams and pain of people living in Yoshiwara.

336 pages
YoshiwaraJapanese sweetsEdohuman feelinghistorical fiction
村瀬健 encouragement award

Negau Senno, a university student looking for a job, is captivated by a rakugo performance on a taxi radio and abandons both university and employment to seek apprenticeship with the gifted storyteller Haraku Sofutei. After repeated refusals, Negau becomes a trainee and learns both the difficulty of the craft and the joy of making people laugh, while confronting events involving Nekotaro, the senior apprentice who has looked after him.

A human drama about a young man whose life is changed by rakugo as he learns laughter and the craft in Asakusa.

338 pages
rakugomaster and apprenticegrowthAsakusalife