Japanese Literary Awards

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Japan Children's Literature Association Criticism Newcomer Award

にほんじどうぶんがくしゃきょうかいひょうろんしんじんしょう

Newcomer award for children's literature criticism hosted by the Japan Children's Literature Association.

Children's literatureCriticismNewcomer award
Established
2003
Organizer
Japan Children's Literature Association
Category
Criticism and Critical Writing
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Newcomer
Frequency
Held every other year
Application Deadline
around December
Announcement Period
around May
Status
Active

Description

Established in 2003, this is an open call newcomer award targeting unpublished children's literature criticism on free themes. Open to both professionals and amateurs, it is the only public award in the children's literature world that exclusively targets criticism.

Prize

Main Prize
Publication in the "Japan Children's Literature" magazine
  • Winning entries published in July-August issue
  • Honorable mentions also considered for publication

Selection

Selection Process

Application reception
Judges Japan Children's Literature Association
Announcement Deadline at end of December
Selection
Judges Selection committee
Announcement Judges' comments published in May-June issue of "Japan Children's Literature"
Award ceremony
Judges Japan Children's Literature Association
Announcement Late May

Criteria

  • Must be unpublished children's literature criticism
  • Free theme
  • Open to professionals and amateurs

Application Tips

Dos

  • Papers previously published in doujinshi etc. must be revised and this fact clearly stated upon submission

Related Awards

  • Japan Children's Literature Association Newcomer Award
  • Japan Children's Literature Association Award
  • Mitsukoshi Sachio Juvenile Poetry Award
  • Japan SF Criticism Award
  • Sogensha Mystery Criticism Award
  • Contemporary Tanka Criticism Award
  • Contemporary Haiku Criticism Award
  • Subaru Critique Award

Official Resources

https://jibunkyo.main.jp/

Past Winners

No winner
松嶋文乃 まつしま ふみの honorable mention

第10回日本児童文学者協会評論新人賞の佳作論文として、朝比奈あすか『君たちは今が世界』を起点にした評論が選ばれた。

A commendation essay for the 10th Jibunkyo Criticism Newcomer Award was selected, using Asuka Asahina’s Kimitachi wa Ima ga Sekai as its starting point.

児童文学評論論文雑誌掲載
No winner
きむらともお きむら ともお honorable mention

Tomoo Kimura's "When a Parent Becomes Mentally Ill" was selected for an honorable mention in the Japan Children's Literature Association Criticism Newcomer Award. It addresses the urgent situation of children facing a parent's mental illness and asks how children's literature can receive and narrate such experience.

A critical essay that looks at parental mental illness and children's experience from the perspective of children's literature.

children's literature criticismfamilymental illnesschild's perspective
富中佑輔 とみなか ゆうすけ honorable mention

Yusuke Tominaka's "The Sixtieth-Year Kirin: An Essay on Chiaki Saeki's Moeyo Ki no Hana" was selected as an honorable mention in the Japan Children's Literature Association Criticism Newcomer Award. It rereads Saeki's work and considers its maturity and critical significance.

A critical essay that rereads Chiaki Saeki's work and explores the reach of children's literature criticism.

children's literature criticismChiaki Saekiwork studyrereading
伊藤敬佑 いとう けいすけ award

「離脱」できない現実――郊外のイスラム系移民を描いたフランス児童文学の検討 is a 評論・研究 work by 伊藤敬佑 associated with the 2016 受賞 record. The entry summarizes the work from award records and bibliographic checks, focusing on its subject, publication status, and reading context.

「離脱」できない現実――郊外のイスラム系移民を描いたフランス児童文学の検討 by 伊藤敬佑 is a work whose subject and publication status can be traced through award and bibliographic records.

award-winning workbibliographic verification評論・研究
Akiko Uchikawa うちかわ ろうこ award

「対等」への希求――二宮由紀子作品における関係性―― is a work by 内川朗子, recorded here as a 受賞 selection. The entry summarizes the award context and bibliographic findings in a form suitable for a work profile.

A concise profile of 「対等」への希求――二宮由紀子作品における関係性―― by 内川朗子, including award and bibliographic context.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
濱崎桂子 はまさき けいこ honorable mention

魔女のモノがたり――藤真知子「まじょ子」シリーズ、あんびるやすこ「なんでも魔女商会」シリーズから読み解く消費社会的感性 is a work by 濱崎桂子, recorded here as a 佳作 selection. The entry summarizes the award context and bibliographic findings in a form suitable for a work profile.

A concise profile of 魔女のモノがたり――藤真知子「まじょ子」シリーズ、あんびるやすこ「なんでも魔女商会」シリーズから読み解く消費社会的感性 by 濱崎桂子, including award and bibliographic context.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
Taro Yachida たにうちだ たろう honorable mention

〈子どもの読書〉について――砂田弘「どこに子どもの文学の根拠をおくか」をめぐる考察 is a work by 谷内田太郎, recorded here as a 佳作 selection. The entry summarizes the award context and bibliographic findings in a form suitable for a work profile.

A concise profile of 〈子どもの読書〉について――砂田弘「どこに子どもの文学の根拠をおくか」をめぐる考察 by 谷内田太郎, including award and bibliographic context.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
芹沢清実 せりざわ きよみ honorable mention

This critical essay rereads children's literature about school evacuation by asking how lived experience is transformed into story. It treats the inheritance of wartime memory not only as preservation of facts but as narrative form for child readers.

It reconsiders how memories of school evacuation become narrative in children's literature.

school evacuationchildren's war literatureexperience and narrative
Akiko Uchikawa うちかわ ろうこ honorable mention

This critical essay focuses on how children's literature depicts the act of reading the room, asking how stories make invisible social pressure and conformity visible. It treats atmosphere, silence, and adjustment to others as questions of narrative perspective.

A critical essay that reads the atmosphere within children's stories as a matter of relationships and perspective.

reading the roomchildren's literature criticismpressure in relationships
渡邉章夫 わたなべ あきお honorable mention

金子みすゞ論――空の向こう側 is a work by 渡邉章夫. 『金子みすゞ論――空の向こう側』は渡邉章夫による作品。受賞歴を通じて知られ、人物の感情や時代性を軸にした読み味を持つ。

金子みすゞ論――空の向こう側 presents 渡邉章夫's literary concerns through a compact and memorable form.

文学賞受賞作
Akiko Uchikawa うちかわ ろうこ honorable mention

「空気」を描く児童文学――小学校中級向け作品から考える―― is a work by 内川朗子. 『「空気」を描く児童文学――小学校中級向け作品から考える――』は内川朗子による作品。受賞歴を通じて知られ、人物の感情や時代性を軸にした読み味を持つ。

「空気」を描く児童文学――小学校中級向け作品から考える―― presents 内川朗子's literary concerns through a compact and memorable form.

文学賞受賞作
Noriko Moroboshi もろぼし のりこ honorable mention

グラデーションする世界の果て is a 児童文学評論 by 諸星典子. The work develops its subject through a focused narrative voice and leaves room for readers to consider the emotions and social questions behind the story.

A focused 児童文学評論 that follows the pressure points hidden in everyday life and memory.

family and memoryself-discoverysocial pressure
Nobu Inoue いのうえ のぶ honorable mention

ファンタジー児童文学の可能性に関する考察――小沢正・岡田淳論―― is a 児童文学評論 by 井上乃武. The work develops its subject through a focused narrative voice and leaves room for readers to consider the emotions and social questions behind the story.

A focused 児童文学評論 that follows the pressure points hidden in everyday life and memory.

family and memoryself-discoverysocial pressure
Tsuyoshi Meguro めぐろ つよし award

A critical essay that considers what place children's literature can occupy in a contemporary media environment. Referring to periodizations of postwar society, it reads changes in children's literature after the war.

A critical essay that rethinks the place of children's literature through changing media environments.

children's literature criticismmediapostwar societymiddle distancereading environment
Akiko Uchikawa うちかわ ろうこ honorable mention

A critical essay on children's books depicting school refusal, focusing on the meaning of the road to school as a maze. It reads children's distance from the school system through narrative structure and emotional movement.

A rereading of the road to school in children's literature about school refusal.

children's literature criticismschool refusalschoolchildren's placenarrative structure
Noriko Moroboshi もろぼし のりこ honorable mention

A critical essay on Kaho Nashiki's Karakuri Karakusa, focusing on overlapping worlds and emerging images. It uses the metaphor of holography to grasp the multilayered world of dolls, textiles, shared living, and memory.

A reading of Karakuri Karakusa's layered fictional world through the metaphor of holography.

children's literature criticismKaho NashikiKarakuri Karakusaholographyfictional world
Mieko Aikawa あいかわ みえこ award

『うすらでかぶつ』にみる読みの開き方―― 一九七〇年代の入り口をふりかえる by 相川美恵子 is an award-winning work that conveys the author's voice through compressed language and a focused treatment of its themes.

『うすらでかぶつ』にみる読みの開き方―― 一九七〇年代の入り口をふりかえる by 相川美恵子 is an award-winning work that conveys the author's voice through compressed language and a focused treatment of its themes.

award-winning workcontemporary literature
Megumi Fujimoto ふじもと めぐみ honorable mention

錯綜する物語――薫くみこ『十二歳の合い言葉』の魅力 by 藤本恵 is an award-winning work that conveys the author's voice through compressed language and a focused treatment of its themes.

錯綜する物語――薫くみこ『十二歳の合い言葉』の魅力 by 藤本恵 is an award-winning work that conveys the author's voice through compressed language and a focused treatment of its themes.

award-winning workcontemporary literature