Japanese Literary Awards

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Japan SF Criticism Award

にほんエスエフひょうろんしょう

A newcomer award for SF criticism hosted by the Science Fiction Writers of Japan.

SF criticismNewcomer award
Established
2006
Organizer
Science Fiction Writers of Japan
Category
Criticism and Critical Writing
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Newcomer
Frequency
1 per year
Status
Ended

Description

A newcomer award hosted by the Science Fiction Writers of Japan, targeting unpublished SF criticism works. Winning works are published in SF Magazine along with a trophy, and manuscript fees are paid. On hiatus since the 9th award (2014).

Prize

Main Prize
Trophy presentation, publication in SF Magazine, and manuscript fee payment
  • Trophy
  • Manuscript fee from publication

Selection

Selection Process

Selection
Judges Science Fiction Writers of Japan President: Takachiho Haruka, Sena Hideaki; SF Magazine Editor-in-Chief: Shiozawa Kaiji, Shimizu Naoki
Announcement Announced in SF Magazine

Criteria

  • Must be an unpublished SF criticism work
  • Open to both professionals and amateurs

Related Awards

  • Subaru Critique Award
  • Sogensha Mystery Criticism Award
  • Japan Association of Writers for Children Criticism Newcomer Award
  • Contemporary Tanka Criticism Award
  • Contemporary Haiku Criticism Award

Official Resources

http://www.sfwj.or.jp/hyoron.html

Past Winners

進藤洋介 しんどう ようすけ encouragement award

ジュラシック・パークのフラクタル is a work by 進藤洋介, recorded here as a 奨励賞 selection. The entry summarizes the award context and bibliographic findings in a form suitable for a work profile.

A concise profile of ジュラシック・パークのフラクタル by 進藤洋介, including award and bibliographic context.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
タヤンディエー・ドゥニ たやんでぃえー どぅに special award

Aramaki Yoshio’s “Puyopuyo Engineering” is a Japanese literary work that explores memory, relationships, self-discovery. It presents its subject through a focused narrative or poetic frame shaped by the work's award context.

Aramaki Yoshio’s “Puyopuyo Engineering” presents its award-winning themes in an accessible literary form.

memoryrelationshipsself-discovery
Toshimichi Watanabe わたなべ としみち excellence award

This SF critical essay reads Sayuri Ueda's The Ocean Chronicles through the relations between ocean people and land people, bodies and communities, and bachelorhood and social systems. The prize-winning work itself was a magazine-published essay, using the novel's post-sea-level-rise world as a basis for discussing images of humanity.

A critical rereading of the vast future history of The Ocean Chronicles from the viewpoint of those who stand outside community.

SF criticismoceanic future historycommunityembodimentcriticism on Sayuri Ueda
忍澤勉 しのざわ つとむ special award

This SF critical essay examines how Stanislaw Lem's Solaris was read and transmitted in Japanese. It focuses on translation, reception, and shifts in understanding, and was recognized by the Japan SF Criticism Award.

A critical essay that traces the reception of Solaris and reconsiders problems of translation and understanding.

SF criticismtranslation receptionStanislaw LemSolarisJapanese-language readings
関竜司 せき りゅうじ excellence award

A science fiction critical essay on the network, selfhood, and godlike ubiquity depicted in the anime Serial Experiments Lain. Using the work’s religious and information-theoretical images, it interprets Lain as a vision of the near future.

A critical reading of selfhood and futurity in the network age through the figure of Lain.

science fiction criticismSerial Experiments Lainnetworkselfhoodreligious imagery
Toshiro Fujimoto ふじもと とうしろう special award

A science fiction critical essay reading Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle through uchronia and the I Ching. It links alternate-history structure with divinatory thought to examine contingency and narrative branching.

By joining alternate history with the I Ching, it considers how another history comes into being.

science fiction criticismThe Man in the High CastleuchroniaI Chingalternate history
Akira Okawada おかわだ あきら excellence award

世界内戦とわずかな希望―伊藤計劃『虐殺器官』へ向き合うために is a critical work that rereads literature or history in order to question contemporary imagination and social choices, using close reading to reveal the problems of its age.

世界内戦とわずかな希望―伊藤計劃『虐殺器官』へ向き合うために is a prize-recognized work by 岡和田晃.

criticismclose readingcontemporary society
高槻真樹 たかつき まき special award

文字のないSF―イスフェークを探して is a critical work that rereads literature or history in order to question contemporary imagination and social choices, using close reading to reveal the problems of its age.

文字のないSF―イスフェークを探して is a prize-recognized work by 高槻真樹.

criticismclose readingcontemporary society
石和義之 いしわ よしゆき excellence award

アシモフの二つの顔 is a work by 石和義之. 『アシモフの二つの顔』は石和義之による作品。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。

アシモフの二つの顔 presents 石和義之's literary concerns through a compact and memorable form.

文学賞受賞作
宮野由梨香 みやの ゆりか award

光瀬龍『百億の昼と千億の夜』小論 旧ハヤカワ文庫版「あとがきにかえて」の謎

science fiction criticismclose readingcriticism
Naoya Fujita ふじた なおや special award

消失点、暗黒の塔―『暗黒の塔』V部、VI部、VII部を検討する

science fiction criticismclose readingcriticism
Yutaka Ebihara えびはら ゆたか excellence award

グレッグ・イーガンとスパイラルダンスを「適切な愛」「祈りの海」「しあわせの理由」に読む境界解体の快楽 is a SF評論 by 海老原豊. 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 SF評論 that follows the pressure points hidden in everyday life and memory.

family and memoryself-discoverysocial pressure
磯部剛喜 いそべ ごうき excellence award

国民の創世―〈第三次世界大戦〉後における〈宇宙の戦士〉の再読 is a SF評論 by 磯部剛喜. 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 SF評論 that follows the pressure points hidden in everyday life and memory.

family and memoryself-discoverysocial pressure
横道仁志 award

A work of SF and fantasy criticism on Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds. From the perspective of a bridge across rupture, it reads the novel's cross-cultural Chinese fantasy, narrative structure, and adventure appeal.

A critical reading of Bridge of Birds' imagined China as a story of rupture and connection.

SF criticismfantasyBridge of Birdscross-cultural representation
鼎元亨 special award

An SF critical essay on Japanese proper names in the Perry Rhodan series. It links naming and historical memory in the long-running translated series to a hypothesis involving Dutch POW survivors in Nagasaki.

Reading war memory and translated SF through Japanese names in Perry Rhodan.

SF criticismPerry Rhodanproper namesNagasaki