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Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award

はやしふみこぶんがくしょう

Japanese open submission award for new writers.

Medium- and short-length works
Established
2014
Organizer
Kitakyushu City
Category
General Fiction and Popular Fiction
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Open
Frequency
1 per year
Application Deadline
around September
Announcement Period
around January
Status
Active

Description

Sponsored by Kitakyushu City, with cooperation from Asahi Shimbun Publishing (Chuo Koron Shinsha until the second edition), and established in 2014. Targets medium- and short-length works, named after Hayashi Fumiko. Open to entries regardless of age, gender, occupation, or nationality. Grand Prize (one work): 1 million yen prize money and publication in Shosetsu Tripper (Fujin Koron until the second edition); Honorable mentions (several works): 100,000 yen each. Selection results announced on the Kitakyushu City Literature Museum website.

Prize

Main Prize
Grand Prize (1 work): 1 million yen prize money and publication in Shosetsu Tripper published by Asahi Shimbun Publishing (Fujin Koron published by Chuo Koron Shinsha until the second round)
Cash Prize
1,000,000 JPY
  • Honorable mentions (several works): 100,000 yen

Selection

Selection Process

Final selection
Judges Inoue Arano, Kakuta Mitsuyo, Kawakami Mieko
Announcement Kitakyushu City Literature Museum website

Application Tips

Dos

  • 手書き原稿は400字詰原稿用紙で50枚以上120枚以内にまとめる
  • ワープロ原稿はA4用紙に40字×30行で作成し、原稿用紙換算枚数を明記する

Don''ts

  • 規定枚数を超えない
  • 既発表作品や応募規定外の形式で応募しない

Related Awards

  • Kitakyushu City Personal History Literary Award

Official Resources

https://www.kitakyushucity-bungakukan.jp/award_cat/hayashi/

Past Winners

津田美幸 つだ みゆき grand prize
チヒロ・オオダテ ちひろ・おおだて honorable mention
大原鉄平 おおはら てっぺい grand prize

A work that portrays the overlap of forest presence and human life in a strongly lyrical style.

What the forest takes is not only the scenery.

forestlyricismdaily lifework
Yui Suzuki すずき ゆい honorable mention

A work that lightly and clearly explores the meaning of reading while asking how close one can live to books.

How many books are enough?

booksreadingquestionwork
屋敷葉 やしき よう grand prize
Ayako Koizumi こいずみ あやこ honorable mention
Aki Asahina あさひな あき grand prize

"塩の道" is a 大賞 work from the Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award 2021-1. It stands out for its distinctive premise and atmosphere.

A 大賞 work from Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award 2021-1.

Hayashi Fumiko Literary Awardaward-winning work
芝夏子 しば なつこ honorable mention

A runner-up work in the Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award published in Shosetsu Tripper. No standalone edition was confirmed; it was later reprinted in Watashi wa Shakai.

Confirmed as a magazine-published work, but no independent book edition was found.

short fictionliterary awardmagazine publicationreprint
阿部あみ あべ あみ honorable mention

Uraniwa is Ami Abe's short story selected for honorable mention at the fifth Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award. It depicts a woman waiting for her son, who has not returned from the city, and her relationship with an eccentric aunt. It was published in Shosetsu Tripper Spring 2019 after the award, but no standalone book publication was confirmed.

An award-winning magazine-published story about a woman waiting for her absent son and an eccentric aunt.

fictionfamilywaitinglocal lifeshort story
Yukiko Kogure こぐれ ゆきこ grand prize

A novella in which the quiet daily life of an elderly barber and his wife turns unsettling through past death and guilt. The debut volume pairs the title work with Zansho no Yukue.

Behind an elderly couple's quiet life in a rural town, a pain thought forgotten wakes again.

216 pages
elderly couplememorylossguiltlocal rootedness
絹谷朱美 きぬたに あけみ honorable mention

A finalist-prize work from the Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award. It was announced alongside Tiger Rihatsuten Shinju and is connected to Akemi Kinutani's later concern with finding light beneath human difficulty.

It looks toward the light that remains beneath a life that does not go as planned.

short fictionhuman naturelightlife's intractabilityprize-winning work
工藤千尋 くどう ちひろ grand prize

Tozene, Kachakuchane by Chihiro Kudo won the grand prize of the third Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award. As its dialect-inflected title suggests, the story uses local language and lived texture to depict emotional wavering and tangled relationships.

Local speech brings the characters' inner lives close to the texture of their everyday world.

short fictiondialectregionfamilydaily life
なかにしさとみ なかにし さとみ honorable mention

Fukaku, by Satomi Nakanishi, received an honorable mention in the third Hayashi Fumiko Literary Award. Its brief title leaves a quiet resonance, suggesting a short story that descends into the depths of a character's inner life and relationships.

The space around a single word invites the reader to imagine emotional depth and the deepening of relationships.

short fictioninner liferelationshipsaftertaste
Haneko Takayama たかやま はねこ grand prize

太陽の側の島 is an award-recognized work by 高山羽根子. This record separates the work's award identity from any bibliographic identifiers that could not be confirmed for a standalone book edition.

太陽の側の島 by 高山羽根子 is a work to revisit through the context of its award recognition.

award-winning workcontemporary Japanese literature
Michiko Ioka いおか みちこ grand prize

早くに両親を亡くした楓子と高齢の祖母の暮らしを描く短編。家族の喪失と世代の交代を静かな筆致で見つめる。

短い物語の中に、生活の影と感情の揺れが凝縮されている。

短編小説家族記憶再生
志馬さち子 しま さちこ honorable mention

第1回林芙美子文学賞佳作の短編。日常の小さな揺らぎを通じ、心が前を向くまでの時間を描く。

短い物語の中に、生活の影と感情の揺れが凝縮されている。

短編小説家族記憶再生
Yae Takakura たかくら やえ honorable mention

第1回林芙美子文学賞佳作の表題作。雨や陰影の感触を通じて、人の記憶と孤独を浮かび上がらせる。

短い物語の中に、生活の影と感情の揺れが凝縮されている。

短編小説家族記憶再生