「The 50th Izumi Kyoka Memorial Kanazawa Citizens’ Literature Award」 inviting a wide range of literary works including novels, plays, poems, and tanka poems 【Kanazawa Topics】

「The 50th Izumi Kyoka Memorial Kanazawa Citizens’ Literature Award」 is now accepting entries. The deadline is Sunday, July 31 (postmarked by that date).

The 「Izumi Kyoka Memorial Kanazawa Citizens’ Literature Award」 was established in 1973 together with the “Izumi Kyoka Literature Award” and is sponsored by Kanazawa City. Applicants must currently live or have lived in Kanazawa City, commute to work or school in Kanazawa City, or have previously commuted to work or school in Kanazawa City.

Entries are eligible for a wide range of literary genres, including prose-type works (novels, plays, critiques, essays, etc.) and short poem-type works (poetry, tanka, haiku, and willow) written in Japanese.

The standard size for prose-type works is between 10 and 100 pages on landscape A4 paper (vertical writing, 40 characters x 30 lines per page, font size 10-12 points), at least 5 poems, and at least 30 tanka, haiku, or other forms of poetry. Works that have been published in book form or in e-book format (published or produced between August 1, 2021 and July 31 of this year) are also eligible for entry.

The award-winning works will be announced in September, and the award ceremony will be held in October together with the Kyoka Izumi Literary Award ceremony. The winner will receive a bronze mirror 「Hachiryokyo」 decorated with a rabbit motif, named after Kyoka Izumi, as the official prize, and a cash prize of 300,000 yen as a supplementary prize.

The fact that the 10 selection committee members are undisclosed is a concern, but the number of genres that can be submitted is large, so why not take up the challenge if you are up to the challenge (details).