AKUTAGAWA PRIZE

Japanese Akutagawa Ryunosuke Sho Japanese literary prize awarded semiannually for the best serious work of fiction by a promising new Japanese writer. The prize is generally considered, along with the Naoki Prize, Japan's most prestigious and sought-after literary award. Short stories or novellas win the prize more frequently than do full-length novels. The Akutagawa Prize was created in 1935 by the writer Kikuchi Kan to honour the memory of his friend and colleague, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, an esteemed writer who had committed suicide in 1927. The prize was awarded from 1935 to 1944 and again from 1949.