The Hoshi Awards
にっけいほししんいちしょう
A literary award for short-short stories and short fiction based on scientific thinking, open to both humans and non-human entities such as artificial intelligence.
- Established
- 2013
- Organizer
- Nikkei Inc.
- Category
- Genre Fiction
- Selection Method
- Open call
- Target
- Open
- Frequency
- 1 per year
- Application Deadline
- around September–October
- Announcement Period
- around February–March
- Status
- Active
Description
The Nikkei 'Hoshi Shinichi Award' (English: The Hoshi Awards) is a public literary award sponsored by Nikkei Inc. since 2013, targeting short short stories and short stories based on science-oriented ideas. It bears the name of the writer Hoshi Shinichi, known for his short short story works.
Selection
Selection Process
| Stage | Judges | Pass Rate | Announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| First screening | Screening committee | — | — |
| Intermediate screening | Intermediate screening committee | — | — |
| Final screening | Final screening committee | — | — |
Related Awards
- Hoshi Shinichi Short Short Story Contest
- Komatsu Sakyō Award
- Japanese SF Newcomer Award
Official Resources
https://hoshiaward.nikkei.co.jp/Past Winners
A SF short story in epistolary form set in 2045, written as a confession by medical researcher Ikuto Mayuzumi to his mentor, Dr. Tanemei Susuga. Ikuto developed the universal antiviral agent APOLLON and discovered the intelligence-granting transposon ATHENA encoded in the human genome, hoping to save his wife Mutsumi from the disease Richard. However, when APOLLON destroys ATHENA along with all viruses, Mutsumi loses her intellect. Ikuto ultimately arrives at the terrifying truth that human intelligence itself is a product of viral parasitism, and that humanity's construction of an orbital elevator is nothing more than the puppetry of a parasitic organism.
Subject: A letter to my mentor (a memorandum accompanied by private contrition)
Biologist Kazuya Sayanagi encounters an immortal indigenous woman named Maya deep in the Amazon rainforest. After her death in a fire, he discovers a parasitic organism called 'Yuwentelna' in her body, which grants immortality to its host while instilling a deep longing for space. Humanity rapidly advances thanks to Yuwentelna, eventually launching a lunar colonization mission — but this turns out to be the parasite's own scheme, as it can only reproduce in the vacuum of space. An epic SF short story unified by the imagery of daisies.
In 2075, humanity was finally about to fire the opening shot of its advance into space. A lunar emigration ship capable of housing nearly a thousand people. On the outdoor stage inside it, a departure ceremony was underway, with each notable passenger sending off a few words in turn.
Winner of the General Division Grand Prize in the 11th Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Award. Public information is mainly the award announcement and distribution notice; no standalone book edition has been confirmed.
The piece won as a short story with a wintry atmosphere.
Selected as the Grand Prize winner of the 10th Hoshi Shinichi Award. No standalone book publication could be confirmed, so the record stays at the level of an award-winning short work.
Grand Prize winner of the 10th Hoshi Shinichi Award.