Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Literary Awards

Yugawara Literature Award

ゆがわらぶんがくしょう

A public literary award hosted by Yugawara Town, Kanagawa. The haiku division continues to be held annually (24th edition in 2025), while the fiction division concluded in 2020 after its 20th edition.

NovelHaiku
Established
2001
Organizer
Yugawara Literature Award Executive Committee (Yugawara Town, Kanagawa Prefecture)
Category
Literature and General Literary Arts
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Newcomer
Frequency
1 per year
Status
Ended

Description

The Yugawara Literary Award is a public newcomer literary prize established in 2001 by Yugawara Town, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its haiku division continues to be held annually — reaching its 24th edition in 2025 — welcoming themed seasonal haiku entries from across Japan, with the poet Madoka Mayuzumi serving as the judge and a prize of 50,000 yen awarded for the grand prize. The fiction division ended in 2020 after its 20th edition; winning works had been published in Shodensha's literary magazine Shosetsu NON.

Prize

Main Prize
Publication of the grand prize-winning work (Novel category)
  • Award certificate

Selection

Selection Process

Selection
Judges Novel category: Kyotaro Nishimura, Haiku category: Madoka Mayuzumi

Related Awards

  • https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%87%E5%AD%A6%E8%B3%9E%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7
  • https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0%E6%96%B9%E6%96%87%E5%AD%A6%E8%B3%9E

Official Resources

http://www.town.yugawara.kanagawa.jp/kyoiku/bungaku/

Past Winners

奥田謙治 best award

行き止まりの百日紅 is an award-winning work by 奥田謙治. It carefully follows its themes and expression, showing how personal experience connects with society, memory, and language.

行き止まりの百日紅 looks closely at the relationship between people and the world with the density expected of an award-winning work.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturememorysocietyexpression
梅田うめすけ best award

A story that portrays the life of Sanjugo Naoki through the form of a storyteller's narration. It is confirmed as the top-prize work in the fiction division of the Yugawara Literary Prize, but no book, paperback, or collection publication could be confirmed for the award-time text.

An award-winning work that uses the voice of oral storytelling to illuminate the life of writer Sanjugo Naoki.

Sanjugo Naokistorytellinga writer's lifeliterary prizehistorical fiction
真野光一 best award

The grand-prize work in the fiction division of the Yugawara Literary Award. The award is confirmed through municipal and local-news sources, but no standalone book publication could be confirmed, so it is treated as a submitted work rather than a book.

An award-winning submitted work with no confirmed standalone book publication.

literary awardsubmitted workYugawarashort fiction
鳥とおる best award

武蔵の太刀 is an award-winning work by 鳥とおる. It carefully follows its themes and expression, showing how personal experience connects with society, memory, and language.

武蔵の太刀 looks closely at the relationship between people and the world with the density expected of an award-winning work.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturememorysocietyexpression
森明日香 best award

お稽古日和 is an award-recognized work by 森明日香. It is presented as a work shaped by character choices, a sense of time and place, and a lingering question after the final page.

お稽古日和 is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read alongside its publication record.

literaturelifememory
藤原圭太 best award

続相州霊異記 is a work by 藤原圭太 associated with the 湯河原文学賞. Based on the award record, it is presented as a work that invites readers to follow the intersections of character, period, society, and memory.

続相州霊異記 by 藤原圭太 is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read together with bibliographic traces.

award-recognized workpersonal choicessociety and memory
矢間景太郎 best award

昭和文豪殺人事件 is an award-recognized ミステリー by 矢間景太郎. Public bibliographic records and award information frame it as a work concerned with personal choice, memory, and the pressure of its social or historical setting.

昭和文豪殺人事件 looks at the relationship between individual lives and their times through the shape of an award-winning work.

award-winning workmemoryrelationshipssocietyconflict
Mio Aoyama best award

苺レモネード is an award-winning work by aoyama-mio. This entry summarizes the work from award records and public bibliographic sources.

A work whose profile and availability can be traced through its award history.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
工藤哲 best award

This work is introduced as a literary award-winning title. It focuses on its central motif and characters while reflecting the genre and period in which it appeared.

お客さん、どちらまで? invites readers into its world through its central motif and award-winning premise.

literary award winnerpersonal choicesmemory and relationships
花月 best award

友 is a work by 花月 recorded in the 2011-1 award data. A book-format record was confirmed, so its bibliographic data can be treated at the work level.

友 by 花月 is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

257 pages
award-winning workhuman relationshipsstory
細井麻奈美 ほそい まなみ best award

A 短編 work by 細井麻奈美. As an award-recognized work, it depicts unease entering everyday life and a sense of place within a compact form.

From behind a small incident, an overlooked strangeness rises into view.

短編everyday uneaseplaceaftertaste
松下美奈子 まつした みなこ best award

A 俳句 work by 松下美奈子. As an award-recognized work, it depicts unease entering everyday life and a sense of place within a compact form.

From behind a small incident, an overlooked strangeness rises into view.

俳句everyday uneaseplaceaftertaste
星野有加里 ほしの ゆかり best award

An award-winning work by 星野ゆかり for the Yugawara Literary Award. It can be confirmed as a regional literary-prize work, but no standalone book containing the awarded work could be confirmed.

A regional literary-prize work titled 澪標(みおつくし).

regional literary awardliterary workYugawara
小澤千代子 おざわ ちよこ best award

An award-winning work by 小沢千代子 for the Yugawara Literary Award. It can be confirmed as a regional literary-prize work, but no standalone book containing the awarded work could be confirmed.

A regional literary-prize work titled 風よりも 低く屈みて よもぎつむ.

regional literary awardshort verseYugawara
嶽内しずか たけうち しずか best award

ばっきん千円 is nonfiction that patiently approaches its subject and connects individual experience with social structures. It draws the distortions of its time from concrete scenes.

ばっきん千円 is nonfiction that patiently approaches its subject and connects individual experience with social structures.

nonfictionsocietyrecord
北村純一 きたむら じゅんいち best award

川風を たっぷり入れて 芋煮会 condenses season and a moment of daily life into a brief fixed form. Its spare language brings the scene and human presence into focus.

川風を たっぷり入れて 芋煮会 condenses season and a moment of daily life into a brief fixed form.

haikuseasondaily life
鞍智美知子 くらち みちこ best award

This short story received the top award in the fiction division of the Yugawara Literary Prize. Its title suggests a muted gray atmosphere, and it appears to center on a woman’s inner life and the feel of place; no book publication was confirmed.

鈍色(にびいろ)の女 is an award-recognized 短編小説 by 鞍智美知子.

memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
沼田葉桜子 ぬまた はざくらこ best award

This haiku connects the everyday act of airing bedding with a life lived close to the sea. Vast nature and the tactile feel of daily living meet quietly in a single poem.

海いつも見てゐる暮し布団干す is an award-recognized 俳句 by 沼田葉桜子.

memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
春野京 はるの きょう best award

夫婦の情景 is a work by 春野京. It was selected for the 湯河原文学賞 in 2006.

A work by 春野京 recognized by the 湯河原文学賞.

湯河原文学賞最優秀賞
Yoko Hirano ひらの ようこ best award

Set in Yugawara, this story follows an inn proprietress struggling with panic disorder and depression as she moves toward recovery with support from her husband and those around her. The local landscape and days of convalescence give the work a quiet emotional force.

The light of plum blossoms against the dark illuminates the time of a person beginning to walk out of illness.

180 pages
Yugawaraillness and recoveryfamily supportrenewal
皆川雅代 みながわ まさよ special award

Recorded as a special-prize story of the Yugawara Literary Award, this short work evokes the pale light of winter and the shadows of human feeling in a local setting.

The low winter sun reflects the faint warmth left in a person’s heart.

Yugawarawinter lightshort fictionemotional shadows
樫田哲平 かしだ てっぺい best award

朝焼けギムレット is a fictional work by 樫田哲平. As the award-recognized work, it builds its appeal around the images and human movement suggested by the title, giving even a compact form a sense of layered time.

The title 朝焼けギムレット conveys the atmosphere and tension at the center of the work.

relationshipsgrowthtime
鈴木景子 すずき けいこ best award

Kasenjiki by Keiko Suzuki won the top prize in the fiction division of the Yugawara Literary Prize. With a riverside open space as its title, it appears to be a locally grounded short story about daily life and emotional distance.

The open space by the river reflects human life and memory.

regional literatureriversidedaily lifememory
平塚碧 ひらつか あお best award

追憶 〜冬の蛍〜 by 平塚晶人 is a work that draws readers into its subject through carefully shaped scenes and language.

A compact work that leaves a clear afterimage through its voice and structure.

memoryrelationshipslanguage
荻野修司 おぎの しゅうじ best award

This short story uses a single photograph to call back scenes buried in memory. From a small visual trace, a person's time and feeling expand.

一枚の写真 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 荻野修司.

284 pages
short storyphotographmemorylife