| Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize | |
| Subheader: | 山本周五郎賞 (Yamamoto Shūgorō Shō) |
| Awarded For: | Fiction that best exemplifies storytelling |
| Presenter: | Shinchō Society for the Promotion of Literary Arts |
| Country: | Japan |
| Reward: | ¥1,000,000 |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Year2: | 2018 |
The is a Japanese literary award established in 1988 in memory of author Shūgorō Yamamoto.[1] It was created and continues to be sponsored by the Shinchosha Publishing company, which published Yamamoto's Complete Works.[2] The prize is awarded annually to a new work of fiction considered to exemplify the art of storytelling, by a five-person panel consisting of fellow authors. Winners receive ¥1 million.[3]
Unlike the Mishima Yukio Prize, which was established at the same time and focuses on literary fiction, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize is more broad, encompassing a wide range of genre fiction that includes historical and period fiction, mysteries, fantasy, erotica, and more. Candidate works and prize winners for both prizes are typically announced in May each year and covered in national print media.[4]
Notable winners have included Banana Yoshimoto, whose winning novel Goodbye Tsugumi was later published in English, erotic and romance novelist Misumi Kubo, and crime fiction and thriller author Kanae Minato. Several prize winners have gone on to win the Naoki Prize, including Riku Onda, Miyuki Miyabe, Kaori Ekuni, and Honobu Yonezawa.[5]
An official list of winning and nominated works is maintained by Shinchosha, the prize sponsor.[6]
| Year | Author | Japanese Title | English Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Strangers (tr. Wayne Lammers, 2003) | |||
| 1989 | TUGUMI | Goodbye Tsugumi (tr. Michael Emmerich, 2002) | ||
| 1990 | ||||
| 1991 | ||||
| 1992 | ||||
| 1993 | All She Was Worth (tr. Alfred Birnbaum, 1999) | |||
| 1994 | ||||
| 1995 | ||||
| 1996 | ||||
| 1997 | ||||
| 1998 | Blood and Bones | |||
| 1999 | ||||
| 2000 | Too Scary | |||
| 2001 | The Five-Year Plum Tree | |||
| To the Depths of White Roses | ||||
| 2002 | Parade | |||
| Not Safe or Suitable for Swimming | ||||
| 2003 | Peeping Koheiji | |||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | You Have No Tomorrow | |||
| Tomorrow’s Memory | ||||
| 2006 | Emperor Antoku beneath the Sea | |||
| 2007 | The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl | |||
| The Incident in the Courtyard | ||||
| 2008 | Remote Control (tr. Stephen Snyder, 2011) | |||
| Decision: Cover-Up Investigation 2 | ||||
| 2009 | ||||
| 2010 | Photophilous Flower | |||
| The Colour of Truth and Regret | ||||
| 2011 | Feckless Me with Eyes to the Sky | |||
| 2012 | Painting of Paradise | |||
| 2013 | Lingering Pollution | |||
| 2014 | ||||
| 2015 | ||||
| 2016 | ||||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | ||||
| 2019 | ||||
| 2020 | [7] |