Candidate works for the 164th Akutagawa Prize and Naoki Prize were announced, and the Akutagawa Prize was selected by five people including musician Sekaikan Ozaki, and the Naoki Prize was selected by six people including Shigeaki Kato from the idol group "NEWS".

The Naoki Prize is the first candidate for everyone in 25 years.

5 candidates for the Akutagawa Prize

The candidates for the Akutagawa Prize were Rin Usami's "Travel, Burning Yu", Sekaikan Ozaki's "Mother Shadow", Mitsuko Kizaki's "Konjuji", and Bunji Sunakawa's "Platoon". These are 5 works of "Travel Practice" by Yusuke Noriyo.

Mr. Ozaki was in charge of vocals and guitar in the rock band "Creep Hype", and also worked as a novelist, and was selected as a candidate for the first time this time.



Mr. Usami and Mr. Kizaki were also selected for the first time, and Mr. Sunagawa and Mr. Noriyo are the second candidates.

6 Naoki Prize Candidate Works

On the other hand, the candidates for the Naoki Prize include Yo Ashizawa's "Don't wipe dirty hands there", Shin Iyohara's "Silver Snow in August", Shigeaki Kato's "Alternate", and Naka Saijo's " Six works were selected: "Kokoro Shigekawa", "Invisible" by Izumi Sakagami, and "Underdogs" by Kyo Nagaura.



All of them are the first candidates, and Mr. Kato is publishing a novel while working as a member of the idol group "NEWS".



According to the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, it is the first time in 25 years that the Naoki Prize has been nominated for the first time since the 114th in 1995.



The Akutagawa Prize and Naoki Prize selection will be held on the 20th of next month.

Shigeaki Kato "Award of longing really surprised"

Shigeaki Kato (33), a candidate for the Naoki Prize, made her debut as a writer in 2012 while working as a member of the popular idol group "NEWS" of Johnny & Associates, which was formed in 2003. The novel "Alternate" became the first candidate work.



Mr. Kato responded to a media interview on the 17th, saying, "It's a prize I admire, and I wanted to be a candidate someday, but I didn't think I could be a candidate for this work, so I'm really surprised. I was wondering if I could publish a book because I was a talent, and I was wondering if I could call myself a writer, so I think that even if I became a candidate, I think that I was able to accept it to some extent. " He talked about his feelings.



"Alternate" is a youth ensemble drama set in a high school, and depicts how high school students, who are the main characters, overcome conflicts and grow while interacting with the SNS society with their own values ​​over a matching app limited to high school students. I will.



Mr. Kato said, "I thought that by multiplying the youth ensemble drama with SNS and matching apps, I could create a swell in the story. I'm over 30 years old, so it's not too close to write a high school student, it's far. I feel that now is the best in terms of not being too much. There are many young people who do not read books now, so I was most conscious of being able to convey the joy of reading. "



When asked about his feelings for the selection meeting next month, he said, "The more I think about it, the more I get excited, and I think I know the strict criticism of the selection committee, so I feel like I'm going to boil or bake." I feel that it's enough just to come to, so I'd like to spend my time casually. "